Self-Portrait as a Lute Player

On this day in 1593 Artemisia Gentileschi, an Italian Baroque painter who is today considered one of the most accomplished painters in the generation following that of Caravaggio, was born. She specialized in painting pictures of strong and suffering women from myths, allegories, and the Bible—victims, suicides, and warriors.

Artemisia had a tough life. That she was a woman painting in the 17th century and that she was raped as a young woman by Agostino Tassi and participated in the prosecution of her rapist long overshadowed her achievements as an artist. For many years she was regarded as a curiosity. Today she is regarded as one of the most progressive and expressive painters of her generation.

Lute players, be it men or women, are classic elements found in Caravaggesque paintings. There is at least another known and acknowledged painting by Artemisia representing this subject, residing at the Galleria Spada in Rome, at times considered as a Saint Cecilia.

P.S. Read more about Artemisia here and see her Self Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria. <3