Date of Award

Winter 2025

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Visual & Performing Arts; College of Arts & Sciences

First Advisor

Dr. Jill Pederson

Abstract

This thesis examines the artistic evolution of Artemisia Gentileschi between 1613 and 1640, focusing on how her extensive travels shaped the development of her style, subject matter, and professional identity. While Artemisia’s work is frequently interpreted through a biographical or feminist lens, this study emphasizes her artistic agency and technical mastery by situating her paintings within the distinct artistic environments of Florence, Rome, and Venice. Through visual and contextual analysis of her key works—Penitent Magdalene, Judith and her Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes, and Corisca and the Satyr—this paper demonstrates Artemisia’s evolving use of composition, color, lighting, and narrative tension. In Florence, her exposure to the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno and commission in Casa Buonarroti drew her focus to anatomy, disegno, and intellectual symbolism. Her return to Rome shifted her towards dynamic compositions and tenebristic lighting influenced by Baroque naturalism and artists such as Caravaggio. Later, her engagement in humanistic debates and Venetian colore enriched her chosen colors, brushwork, and literary subject matter, in works produced during and after her time in Venice. This thesis argues that Artemisia’s stylistic evolution was a deliberate and strategic use of the artistic traditions and social networks of each city in which she resided, showing Artemisia Gentileschi as a multifaceted artist whose career was shaped by her extensive travels.

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Movement and Mastery: The Artistic Evolution of Artemisia Gentileschi, 1613-1640

This thesis examines the artistic evolution of Artemisia Gentileschi between 1613 and 1640, focusing on how her extensive travels shaped the development of her style, subject matter, and professional identity. While Artemisia’s work is frequently interpreted through a biographical or feminist lens, this study emphasizes her artistic agency and technical mastery by situating her paintings within the distinct artistic environments of Florence, Rome, and Venice. Through visual and contextual analysis of her key works—Penitent Magdalene, Judith and her Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes, and Corisca and the Satyr—this paper demonstrates Artemisia’s evolving use of composition, color, lighting, and narrative tension. In Florence, her exposure to the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno and commission in Casa Buonarroti drew her focus to anatomy, disegno, and intellectual symbolism. Her return to Rome shifted her towards dynamic compositions and tenebristic lighting influenced by Baroque naturalism and artists such as Caravaggio. Later, her engagement in humanistic debates and Venetian colore enriched her chosen colors, brushwork, and literary subject matter, in works produced during and after her time in Venice. This thesis argues that Artemisia’s stylistic evolution was a deliberate and strategic use of the artistic traditions and social networks of each city in which she resided, showing Artemisia Gentileschi as a multifaceted artist whose career was shaped by her extensive travels.