Artemisia Gentileschi helps her father Orazio with his work as a painter and it soon becomes clear that she may be more gifted than he is. However, when commissions aren’t coming in as much as they hoped, Orazio wants to marry his daughter off to a wealthy husband. When Agostino Tassi enters Artemisia’s life to give her painting lessons, it seems that his intensions aren’t as honorable than she thought.
Ever since I read Susan Vreeland’s book on Artemisia a few years ago, I have found both her life and her work fascinating. I stood in front of her Judith slaying Holofernes at the Uffizi last spring with my eyes wide open. So when I heard that my favourite author Elizabeth Fremantle who is known for her Tudor and Stuart books, would be publishing a novel about her, I was immediately interested.
It’s great to see that Fremantle takes a different approach than Vreeland. Fremantle describes the period when Artemisia lived in Rome before her marriage – and thus the period of her rape and trial. We follow her creating her first Judith and her first Susanna. To the contrary Vreeland’s ‘The passion of Artemisia’ covers the whole period after that when she goes to Forence.
This Artemisia is still searching what she wants from life and how her art can reflect that. Her father Orazio is a determining factor in the lives of his daughter and sons. And then there is Zita, her chaperone and occasional model who pursues her own demons.
This isn’t the story of a female painter trying to break the glass ceiling with her work. This is the story of a young girl being wronged and trying to gain recognition for it and, above all, escape from it. A woman who wants to be able to make her own choices – and that’s a story of all times.
Although we don’t know a lot about what really happened to her, Fremantle writes a compelling story together. You almost hope there will be a sequel but I believe this will not be the case when I read her historical note and personal motivation to write this book. Another great novel that didn’t disappoint and I’m already eagerly looking forward to Fremantle’s next book.
In Another Era 
I enjoyed this book too, particularly as I didn’t know very much about Artemisia before I read it. I need to read the Susan Vreeland book!
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