Artemisia Gentileschi Lot n° 47

(Rome 1593–1653 Naples) Judith and her maidservant with the head of Holofernes, oil on canvas, 115 x 116.4 cm, framed Provenance: (probably) private collection, Lombardy; Private European collection, since early 1980s Possible Literature: G. Papi, in: Artemisia, exhibition catalogue, ed. by R. Contini, G. Papi, Milan 1991, p. 102, cited under cat. no. 4, not illustrated (probably a copy on the basis of a photograph); R. Ward Bissell, Artemisia Gentileschi and the Authority of Art, University Park Pennsylvania 1999, p. 324, cited under cat. no. X-15, not illustrated (as probably a copy) The present painting is registered in the Fototeca Zeri under no. 46682 (as Artemisia Gentileschi, attr.). We are grateful to Riccardo Lattuada for confirming the attribution after examining the present painting in the original and for his help in cataloguing this lot. We are also grateful to Pierluigi Carofano for independently confirming the attribution after examining the present painting in the original and for his help in cataloguing this lot. The present painting relates to the composition of Judith and her maidservant with the head of Holofernes by Orazio Gentileschi, now in the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, Connecticut (see fig. 1, oil on canvas, 136.5 x 159.1 cm). The Hartford painting has been dated to between 1621 and 1624 due to the fact that the work was partially recorded by Van Dyck in his Italian Sketchbook, folio 115v, British Museum, London. This also suggests that Orazio made the painting while he was in Genoa, where Van Dyck would have seen it (see K. Christiansen, in: Orazio e Artemisia Gentileschi, exhibition catalogue, ed. by K. Christiansen, J.W. Mann, Milan 2001, p. 189, no. 40). A derivation of the Hartford painting is conserved in the Pinacoteca Vaticana (see fig. 2, oil on canvas, 123 x 142 cm) which is largely considered to be an autograph version by Orazio (see G. Papi in literature, pp. 99–102), possibly made together with studio assistants using a ‘spolvero’, or cartoon. The subject of Judith and Holofernes plays a significant role in Artemisia’s oeuvre including the celebrating paintings of Judith and her maidservant in Palazzo Pitti, Florence (inv. no. 398) and Judith and her maidservant with the head of Holofernes, Detroit Institute of Arts (inv. no. 52.253). In these works, as in the present one, Judith is not depicted looking directly out, but away to the side, as if to avoid contact with the viewer’s gaze. In the present painting, the expression on Judith’s face is intense and powerful and she appears to be almost frowning, creating a strong impact. It has been argued that Artemisia, as a woman painter, finds in her female characters and especially in Judith, models of liberation, women of action who influenced the world rather than retreated from it (see M. D. Garrard, Artemisia Gentileschi, Princeton 1989, p. 279). Artemisia often used innovations and ideas from her father during the course of her career, although she added her own interpretation and dramatic touch, as can be seen here for example in the portrait of the maidservant Abra, and in the unique expression of Judith. The painting echoes the work and composition of Orazio but it has its own unique character, particularly in the depiction of the protagonists and their apparent psychological strength. The present painting almost exactly repeats the composition of the two versions of Judith in Hartford and in the Vatican; it is also similar to these in scale. The Hartford painting now measures 136.5 x 159.1 cm; however, it has been suggested that it has been enlarged and originally would have measured about 124.5 x 146 cm and therefore not far in size from the Vatican painting (see op. cit. Christiansen, 2001, p. 186). The Vatican canvas is 123 x 142 cm and may give a clearer idea of Orazio Gentileschi’s original composition. These observations may indicate that the present painting may have been reduced along the lower edge and right side. Both Lattuada and Carofano date the present work to the end of the 1630s, following Artemisia’s return from London, after the death of her father. As such Artemisia adopted a concept and elaborated on it in an entirely personal manner. Although based on the cartoons and studio materials inherited from her father, the composition is constructed around volumes which elaborate the use of chiaroscuro in broadly drawn outlines of the parts. Indeed, Artemisia adopted a similar painting technique for the Susanna and the elders, now in the Pinacoteca Nazionale, Bologna, and in the Allegory of Painting in the Royal Collection, London. Here in the present composition the use of light and shade create a brilliance in the expressions of the figures, similar to the works of Artemisia’s second Roman period. According to Carofano and Lattuada, Orazio travelled with