WEBVTT 00:00:05.554 --> 00:00:07.054 Hello! And welcome 00:00:07.054 --> 00:00:09.764 to the Artemisia Gentileschi Exhibition 00:00:09.764 --> 00:00:11.754 at the National Gallery. 00:00:11.754 --> 00:00:13.364 Artemisia was one of the greatest 00:00:13.364 --> 00:00:15.044 of all Baroque artists. 00:00:15.044 --> 00:00:16.624 But she was also a woman. 00:00:16.624 --> 00:00:18.294 And that of course made her special 00:00:18.294 --> 00:00:19.624 in interesting ways. 00:00:19.624 --> 00:00:22.184 I mean, she wasn't the first woman artist 00:00:22.184 --> 00:00:23.364 in Western Art. 00:00:23.364 --> 00:00:25.294 But she was the first who imbued 00:00:25.294 --> 00:00:29.294 all her work with a sense of her femininity. 00:00:31.775 --> 00:00:33.965 It makes her work powerful. 00:00:34.261 --> 00:00:36.351 It makes it pioneering. 00:00:37.157 --> 00:00:39.667 And it certainly makes it exciting. 00:00:47.751 --> 00:00:49.271 As you come through the door, 00:00:49.271 --> 00:00:50.621 the first picture you see, 00:00:50.621 --> 00:00:52.461 kind of slaps you around the face really, 00:00:52.461 --> 00:00:53.591 is this. 00:00:54.251 --> 00:00:56.771 And it shows this famous biblical story 00:00:56.771 --> 00:00:58.831 of Susanna and the Elders. 00:00:59.278 --> 00:01:01.028 Susanna was a Hebrew wife 00:01:01.028 --> 00:01:02.348 who was lusted over 00:01:02.348 --> 00:01:04.498 by a couple of old men in the village. 00:01:04.498 --> 00:01:06.588 And they watched her while she was bathing. 00:01:06.588 --> 00:01:09.588 And tried to force her to have sex with them. 00:01:09.588 --> 00:01:11.748 When she refused them, they took her to court. 00:01:11.748 --> 00:01:14.108 They lost the case. She won the case. 00:01:14.108 --> 00:01:16.758 So it's a kind of feminist story, if you like. 00:01:16.758 --> 00:01:19.378 But Artemisia has made something 00:01:19.378 --> 00:01:21.168 so creepy out of it. 00:01:21.168 --> 00:01:23.078 Lots of Baroque artists painted Susanna 00:01:23.078 --> 00:01:23.489 and the Elders. 00:01:23.489 --> 00:01:25.827 But never with this intimate sense 00:01:25.827 --> 00:01:28.627 of the blokes crushing into her space. 00:01:28.627 --> 00:01:31.957 Leaning right over into her confidence zone. 00:01:32.815 --> 00:01:34.895 But the really extraordinary thing here 00:01:34.895 --> 00:01:36.635 is that when she painted this 00:01:36.635 --> 00:01:38.335 she was probably 16. 00:01:38.561 --> 00:01:39.631 At most 17. 00:01:41.022 --> 00:01:42.852 Now, this show ahead of us 00:01:42.852 --> 00:01:45.232 tells us an awful lot of things about 00:01:45.232 --> 00:01:46.452 Artemisia Gentileschi. 00:01:46.452 --> 00:01:48.312 But one of the first things it says 00:01:48.312 --> 00:01:50.382 is that she was a prodigy. 00:01:50.697 --> 00:01:52.877 She could paint better earlier 00:01:53.508 --> 00:01:55.238 than just about anybody else 00:01:55.238 --> 00:01:56.508 in Western Art. 00:02:04.733 --> 00:02:06.613 When Artemisia was 17, 00:02:06.613 --> 00:02:09.613 she was raped by a friend of her father's. 00:02:09.613 --> 00:02:12.413 Another painter called Agostino Tassi. 00:02:12.419 --> 00:02:14.869 And this rape was to have a powerful impact 00:02:14.869 --> 00:02:16.589 on her life of course. 00:02:16.589 --> 00:02:18.409 And there was a very infamous court case 00:02:18.409 --> 00:02:19.589 that resulted from it. 00:02:19.589 --> 00:02:20.609 And one of the things they've got here 00:02:20.609 --> 00:02:22.159 is an actual transcript 00:02:22.159 --> 00:02:24.039 of the court proceedings. 00:02:24.039 --> 00:02:25.897 And what's wonderful about it 00:02:25.897 --> 00:02:27.547 is that you could hear Artemisia's voice. 00:02:27.547 --> 00:02:28.397 The things she said. 00:02:28.397 --> 00:02:29.587 The way she spoke. 00:02:29.587 --> 00:02:30.917 Sometimes they tortured her 00:02:30.917 --> 00:02:33.117 to make sure she was telling the truth. 00:02:33.117 --> 00:02:34.257 But she always came back 00:02:34.257 --> 00:02:36.047 with these snappy reposts. 00:02:36.047 --> 00:02:37.767 These witty answers. 00:02:37.767 --> 00:02:39.527 And she emerges in this show 00:02:39.527 --> 00:02:41.697 as someone who wasn't just a tragic victim 00:02:41.697 --> 00:02:45.057 but was a really rounded and interesting figure. 00:02:49.355 --> 00:02:52.365 This is probably Artemisia's most famous image. 00:02:52.365 --> 00:02:54.505 So famous she did it twice. 00:02:54.505 --> 00:02:57.155 And fortunately, the National Gallery 00:02:57.155 --> 00:02:58.695 has managed to get both versions 00:02:58.695 --> 00:02:59.765 up at once. 00:03:00.117 --> 00:03:02.437 It's Judith beheading Holofernes. 00:03:04.166 --> 00:03:06.316 Judith was a Jewish heroine 00:03:06.316 --> 00:03:08.076 who fought back against Holofernes 00:03:08.076 --> 00:03:09.626 and beheaded him. 00:03:09.626 --> 00:03:10.956 So a very feminine subject. 00:03:10.956 --> 00:03:12.646 And a subject which 00:03:12.646 --> 00:03:13.956 because of Artemisia's rape 00:03:13.956 --> 00:03:16.446 felt particularly personal. 00:03:18.364 --> 00:03:19.804 But what I like is 00:03:19.804 --> 00:03:21.054 the way the two pictures are 00:03:21.054 --> 00:03:22.444 subtly different. 00:03:22.857 --> 00:03:24.627 I mean, they're both gory. 00:03:24.627 --> 00:03:27.587 Because one of the great lessons of Caravaggio 00:03:27.587 --> 00:03:29.097 was that violence is something that 00:03:29.097 --> 00:03:30.657 makes people look at art. 00:03:30.657 --> 00:03:32.347 It's a bit like Sam Peckinpah movies 00:03:32.347 --> 00:03:33.957 in the 80s and 90s. 00:03:33.957 --> 00:03:35.417 You know, violence is just something 00:03:35.417 --> 00:03:38.537 that shakes you out of your everyday rhythm. 00:03:38.537 --> 00:03:40.217 And makes you notice things. 00:03:40.396 --> 00:03:43.585 What's wonderful is the actual detail here. 00:03:43.585 --> 00:03:46.275 Look at this gigantic sword that she's weilding 00:03:46.275 --> 00:03:48.815 as she cuts off the poor guy's head. 00:03:48.815 --> 00:03:50.385 And here, there's just a little bit 00:03:50.385 --> 00:03:51.885 of blood pouring out of him. 00:03:51.885 --> 00:03:53.535 It's savage. But it's not quite 00:03:53.535 --> 00:03:54.605 a gore fest. 00:03:54.605 --> 00:03:55.895 By the time she does this, 00:03:55.895 --> 00:03:57.035 the second version, 00:03:57.035 --> 00:03:58.465 wow, look at the blood there. 00:03:59.472 --> 00:04:01.372 It's pouring out like water 00:04:01.372 --> 00:04:03.362 from a Baroque fountain. 00:04:04.675 --> 00:04:07.075 What a piece of drama that is! 00:04:14.953 --> 00:04:16.863 Now, the National Gallery didn't own any 00:04:16.863 --> 00:04:18.363 Artemisia Gentileschis until 00:04:18.363 --> 00:04:19.633 a couple of years ago 00:04:19.633 --> 00:04:21.307 when very fortunately they managed 00:04:21.307 --> 00:04:23.387 to buy this masterpiece by her. 00:04:23.387 --> 00:04:24.657 And this St. Catherine, 00:04:24.657 --> 00:04:26.977 who was tortured with a horrible 00:04:26.977 --> 00:04:28.437 wooden wheel with spikes in it 00:04:28.437 --> 00:04:30.427 that was turned over her. 00:04:30.427 --> 00:04:33.337 But also it's a self-portrait of Artemisia. 00:04:33.337 --> 00:04:35.567 So it's Artemisia as St. Catherine. 00:04:35.567 --> 00:04:37.587 Identifying fiercely with her. 00:04:38.491 --> 00:04:41.256 And this is Artemisia's St. Cecelia. 00:04:41.430 --> 00:04:43.930 It was another early Christian martyr 00:04:43.930 --> 00:04:45.900 who was tortured for her beliefs. 00:04:45.900 --> 00:04:48.470 And who became the patron saint of music. 00:04:48.470 --> 00:04:50.790 That's why she's strumming away there. 00:04:51.255 --> 00:04:53.605 Look at that look on her face. 00:04:53.605 --> 00:04:55.275 It's very accusatory, isn't it? 00:04:55.275 --> 00:04:57.155 It sort of picks you out. 00:04:57.155 --> 00:04:59.035 It seems somehow to make you feel 00:04:59.035 --> 00:05:00.125 a bit guilty. 00:05:00.551 --> 00:05:02.111 It's self-portraiture 00:05:02.111 --> 00:05:03.641 but self-portraiture with these 00:05:03.641 --> 00:05:05.071 bigger ambitions. 00:05:05.071 --> 00:05:07.651 I think to somehow reach across the ages 00:05:07.651 --> 00:05:10.141 and identify with these sad, martyred figures 00:05:10.141 --> 00:05:13.501 of young women from the early Christian days. 00:05:13.766 --> 00:05:15.846 Now, this room here shows 00:05:16.350 --> 00:05:18.470 the work that she started to paint 00:05:18.470 --> 00:05:21.440 when she moved back to Rome in the 1620s. 00:05:23.457 --> 00:05:25.077 And it's particularly clear here 00:05:25.077 --> 00:05:27.087 that everywhere she went, 00:05:27.087 --> 00:05:28.517 every time she moved on, 00:05:28.517 --> 00:05:30.067 her art changed a bit. 00:05:30.627 --> 00:05:31.947 I mean, this too 00:05:31.947 --> 00:05:33.717 is Susanna and the Elders. 00:05:33.717 --> 00:05:36.477 So it's that first subject in the show. 00:05:36.477 --> 00:05:39.307 The creepy guys staring at the naked woman. 00:05:39.307 --> 00:05:41.827 But here it feels less antagonistic. 00:05:41.827 --> 00:05:43.357 It's calmed down. 00:05:43.457 --> 00:05:46.227 It seems to be more about the beauty 00:05:46.227 --> 00:05:47.227 of the flesh. 00:05:47.227 --> 00:05:48.485 And even the blokes don't look 00:05:48.485 --> 00:05:50.099 quite as horrible as they do 00:05:50.099 --> 00:05:51.519 in that wonderful picture that she painted 00:05:51.519 --> 00:05:52.659 when she was 16. 00:05:52.659 --> 00:05:54.849 So there's an attempt here, I think, to become 00:05:54.849 --> 00:05:57.239 a slightly more respectable Artemisia. 00:05:57.992 --> 00:05:59.502 So it's important to remember 00:05:59.502 --> 00:06:01.862 that she wasn't this feminist heroine 00:06:01.978 --> 00:06:05.078 beheading men all the way through her career. 00:06:05.078 --> 00:06:06.498 She had these phases. 00:06:06.498 --> 00:06:08.609 And the show judges beautifully, I think, 00:06:08.609 --> 00:06:11.039 the development from one phase to another. 00:06:25.694 --> 00:06:28.464 Although the show's basically chronological, 00:06:28.464 --> 00:06:30.564 and takes us through all the main periods 00:06:30.564 --> 00:06:32.114 of Artemisia's career, 00:06:32.114 --> 00:06:33.814 it loses that chronology at the end. 00:06:33.814 --> 00:06:36.644 And with a bit of sneaky exhibition-making, 00:06:36.644 --> 00:06:38.704 it fast-forwards through the Neapolitan years 00:06:39.268 --> 00:06:41.168 and brings us straight to the time 00:06:41.168 --> 00:06:44.568 that Artemisia spent in England. 00:06:44.604 --> 00:06:47.024 Because, yes, she came to England. 00:06:47.024 --> 00:06:49.244 In 1638, just before the Civil War, 00:06:49.714 --> 00:06:51.874 she arrived here and worked on various 00:06:51.874 --> 00:06:54.904 decorative schemes with her father, Horatio. 00:06:54.904 --> 00:06:56.314 And what I really like here 00:06:56.314 --> 00:06:58.464 is that this famous painting 00:06:58.464 --> 00:07:00.794 was also painted in England. 00:07:00.794 --> 00:07:02.904 And it's one of her most famous images. 00:07:02.904 --> 00:07:05.664 Artemisia Gentileschi embodying art. 00:07:06.789 --> 00:07:08.529 Art itself. Symbolically. 00:07:10.278 --> 00:07:11.928 A lot of people have always said 00:07:11.928 --> 00:07:12.958 it's a self-portrait. 00:07:12.958 --> 00:07:14.728 Indeed, it's called a Self-Portrait. 00:07:14.728 --> 00:07:16.668 But we've seen the other self-portraits 00:07:16.668 --> 00:07:17.458 in the show. 00:07:17.458 --> 00:07:18.938 And it's clear that isn't her. 00:07:19.228 --> 00:07:21.148 Now, this isn't a literal self-portrait. 00:07:21.148 --> 00:07:23.558 It's a symbolic self-portrait of her, 00:07:23.558 --> 00:07:24.858 her presence, 00:07:24.858 --> 00:07:27.278 of what art can be in the world. 00:07:27.314 --> 00:07:29.824 And because she's working with one figure, 00:07:29.824 --> 00:07:32.084 it's got that intensity about it again. 00:07:32.469 --> 00:07:34.339 So it's a fantastic ending 00:07:34.339 --> 00:07:36.019 to a fantastic show.