Artemisia Gentileski is finally the creator of the masterpiece painting “David and Goliath”
The esteemed artist Artemisia Gentileschi has finally been recognized as the creator of a painting previously attributed to a male student of her father.
The large painting, crafted in the late 1630s, portrays David in triumph over the beheaded Goliath. This biblical narrative was a favored theme of both Artemisia Gentileschi and her father, Orazio. The revelation comes just before the inaugural major UK exhibition dedicated to Artemisia Gentileski, set to open to the public on April 4th at the National Gallery. The artwork was previously auctioned by Sotheby’s in 1975, at which point it was credited to Giovanni Francesco Guerrieri, a student of Orazio Gentileschi.
However, ahead of a subsequent auction in Munich in 2018, doubts about its authorship surfaced when Artemisia Gentileschi’s signature was discovered. The work was then attributed to her and auctioned as such, but only recently has it been definitively confirmed as her creation. This validation is the result of months of diligent work by conservator Simon Gillespie and Gianni Papi, an Italian scholar of Artemisia Gentileschi’s work, according to The Art Newspaper.
A detailed examination of the canvas revealed a color palette typical of Artemisia Gentileschi’s style at the time. Goliath’s sleeve, the lighting on his face, and the “minimalist” landscape were elements that pointed towards the true creator of the work. Additionally, the artist’s signature was found on the blade of David’s sword, inscribed with the name “Artemisia” and the numbers “16-“, indicating the year of creation. The painting, “David and Goliath,” produced in the late 1630s, will not be among the thirty works exhibited at the National Gallery but will be displayed at Gillespie’s studio in London.
This discovery marks another significant chapter in Artemisia Gentileski’s legacy. Her work, often showcasing powerful female figures, has gained renewed attention in the wake of the #MeToo movement. Last November, Gentileski’s painting “Lucretia” fetched a price of 4.8 million euros at a Paris auction.
Source: artsy.net