Focus on this artwork and analyze the Description.
An inscription on the reverse confirms that it is painted by the artist Artemisia Gentileschi. The inscription is written in Italian which Inscribes: Di Mano di Artemisia figlia di A.rili.Lomi/Pisano Nipote di Orzio. This roughly translates to: Di Mano di Artemisia daughter of A.rili.Lomi/Pisano Grandson of Orzio.There has been much debate over whether Gentileschi had painted herself or a specific saint. It was noted by Keith Christiansen that the painting had to be a self-portrait of the artist instead of a Christian saint because of the physical features in the self-portrait. The description of the woman’s bow lips, the dip in the nose, and round face are identical to Gentileschi’s features. These features were also similar to another one of Gentileschi's paintings she made around this time period, Allegory of Inclination. Lastly, Gentileschi's use of rose drapery and lapis blue paint is similar to the paint in Mary Magdalene, another of Gentileschi's works of art as well. This concluded the discussion of this painting being a self-portrait.
The artist depicts herself in the style of a martyr, which can be seen with the yellow palm frond in her hand. The depiction of palm fronds was a way to symbolize said martyrdom. This representation goes back as early as the Revelation in the Christian bible. If the palm frond was not there, the self-portrait of a woman martyr would turn into just a regular self-portrait painting. It was very common in the seventeenth century for women to be painted as biblical female martyrs; because paintings of woman were meant to emit innocence, having saint like features and doing saint like acts was seen as the ideal woman.Enrica Guerra suggested that the awkward proportion of the hand in comparison to the head suggests that it may have been added at a later stage. The only major change besides the hand in the painting is that Gentileschi painted a turban on the woman, though it is unknown when this change occurred. It was very popular for many artists at this time to depict their self-portraits with a turban, but this was not done to depict a certain saint. Since the painting does not appear to have been cut down in size, the painting is also accurate to what Gentileschi painted. It is unusual in this time period for there to be a painting of a martyr that lacked the attribute of a specific saint in the painting. Artemisia Gentileschi painted self-portraits as several different people in many of her artworks, such as the Self-Portrait as the Allegory of Painting, Self-Portrait as a Lute Player, and Self-Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria yet this was the only Gentileschi did where she depicted herself as the saint.
Artemisia Gentileschi Mary Magdalene Self-Portrait as a Lute Player Allegory of Inclination martyr palm frond bible Self-Portrait as the Allegory of Painting Self-Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria Revelation