Exhibition Review: Artemisia Gentileschi at Palazzo Reale

Artemisia Gentileschi – Between Artistic Merit and Literary Celebrity

The upcoming exhibition at the Palazzo Reale in Milan, opening September 22, 2011, is an event of significant institutional weight. Held under the High Patronage of the President of the Republic, it is presented as the first major monographic exhibition dedicated to the "female artist par excellence": Artemisia Gentileschi. Curated by Roberto Contini with scenography by Emma Dante, the show claims a "first" by focusing solely on Artemisia, distinct from the 2002 joint exhibition with her father, Orazio, which traveled from Rome to New York and Saint Louis (Ref. 1, 2).

The promotional tagline—"For tough women and men who aren't afraid"—reveals a scenic invitation to a vast audience, a hallmark of high-investment institutional events. In the promotional media, Contini suggests that Artemisia became a modern celebrity more for "literary reasons" than artistic merit, likely referring to Anna Banti’s 1947 novel Artemisia(Ref. 1). This bypasses the critical historical groundwork laid by Roberto Longhi in his 1916 essay in L'Arte, which established her importance through the study of Caravaggism (Ref. 3).

The exhibition also leans heavily into the "sensational" aspects of her life—specifically the sexual violence she suffered and the subsequent trial. A dramatic reading of the trial records by Emma Dante serves as a primary promotional tool (Ref. 4). While such historical true-crime elements inevitably drive ticket sales, they also summarize the ongoing problematic role of "femininity" in art and culture.

While the promotional videos offer a mix of objective historical presentation and modern interpretation of "male aggression," the exhibition promises a "vast array of works." We remain curious to see if this quantity is matched by a rigorous selection—a rarity in recent Milanese painting exhibitions—that confirms the event's actual scholarly value. [R. Daniele]

English References (Citations)

1. Official Site: Artemisia Gentileschi Exhibition – www.mostraartemisia.it

2. Exhibition History: Review of the 2002 Orazio and Artemisia Gentileschi exhibition (Rome/New York).

3. J.W. Mann & K. Christiansen (Eds.), Orazio and Artemisia Gentileschi, Skira, Milan, 2001.

4. Historical Archive: Documentation and bibliography regarding the 1612 trial, available via artemisiagentileschi.net.