Painting in the Baroque period evoked emotion by appealing to the senses in very dramatic ways. Artists often used religion or personal experiences and effectively translated these aspects into their works. Artemisia Gentileschi was a female painter during this period who was habitually neglected by critics. This was attributed to the fact that she was woman. The visual arts was a field that was strictly exclusive to males, and it was the basic assumption among male artists and theorists of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries that, "women might practice painting or sculpture, but could not on account of their inferior biological nature, produce works of creative genius". Therefor, it was difficult for women to have their work accepted at that time. Gentileschi frequently depicted strong women from the past who are of heroic nature, which can be read as unusual, since women were seen as inferior to their male "counterparts". Modern feminists believe that Gentileschi must have held feminist views based on her depictions of women. The problem with this point of view however, was that feminism was not a fully develope

Testimony of the Rape Trial [1612], in Mary D. Garrard's Artemisia Gentileschi: The Image of the Female Hero in Italian Baroque Art. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1989.

Honour, Hugh and Fleming, John. The Visual Arts: A History, Fourth Edition. New Jersey: Prentice Hall Inc., 1995.

Marriage in that time was equivalent to a business deal. The wives' purpose was to cook and clean while the male was the "bread winner". Women did not possess personal possession, as the husband dictated her possessions. Alberti (1404-72) stated in one of his dialogues, "after my wife had been settled in my house...". The home was essentially where the woman performed her domestic duties, and where the man came home to relax from work. As mentioned, the Renaissance was a time of reviving the family, and Alberti also reinforced that point: "I made it a rule never to speak with her of anything but the household matters or question of conduct or of the children. Of these matters I spoke a good deal to her." Writing at that time made it evident what men expected from women once they entered into a contract of marriage. The woman was nothing more but a slave within the home and an obedient animal, as taught within the Scriptures.

d or widely accepted ideology at the time that Gentileschi was painting. However, Joan Kelly contended that there was "a four hundred year old tradition of women thinking about women and sexual politics in European society before the French Revolution". With that as a premise, feminism could be loosely defined as a pro-female reaction to sexual politics, and Gentileschi could be deemed a feminist thinker. In order to argue this point, this essay will offer an analysis of the culture of Italian society, including the writing within the Sciptures, and of men and women of the time period. It is possible that Gentileschi's work was a response to the decades of negative beliefs about women that derived from the male writers in Italy based on the religious teachings of the church. Female writers of this period provided evidence of pro-female thinking that was circulating, which furthered the possibility that Gentileschi was simply just reinforcing these thoughts through a visual medium. This notion of sexual politics can be extracted from the writing of Christine de Pizan, who raised a literary voice on the biological and intellectual equality of women in the fifteenth century. The rape that Gentileschi endured in 1612 and the harsh treatment throughout the trial will dually be considered in the above context. All of these aspects contributed to the reasons this artist produced the works she did, since it was so untypical in terms of the period. Lastly, all of these factors will be addressed with a comparison of Gentileschi's work to that of her male contemporaries on the same themes. Many of

Mary Garrard, one of the leading contemporary scholars, feels that the fundamental moral of the Susanna story was ignored. She believes that the artists did not focus on the primary plot of the "discovery of the truth and the execution of justice precipitated by Susanna's actions," but on secondary aspects of the story: temptation, seduction, and erotic escapades.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Saint Paul, City Women, French Revolution, Italy Ladies, Qualities Renaissance, Normally Baroque, Artemisia Gentileschi, I1 Cortegiano, Jew Susanna, Holy Scriptures, seventeenth centuries, christine de, christine de pizan, book city, de pizan, women history, city ladies, sexual politics, susanna elders, european society, book city ladies, julia o'faolain lauro, martines london temple, o'faolain lauro, lauro martines london,
Approximate Word count = 4996
Approximate Pages = 20 (250 words per page double spaced)