The exhibition exploring the time Artemisia Gentileschi spent in Naples has found four new works that have been attributed to her, changing the art historical canon of arguably Europe’s greatest female artist. The exhibition curators, Giuseppe Porzio and Antonio Ernesto Denunzio, have given full attributions to the works, which have fueled the ongoing debate around how Gentileschi worked with other key artists in Naples during her lifetime.
The exhibition at Gallerie d’Italia in Naples, featuring 21 works by Italian artist Artemisia Gentileschi, will be on display until March 19th. It explores her work in Naples between 1630 and 1654, and includes paintings with other artists.
The painting Triumph of Galatea is on loan from the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. The National Gallery of Art website says that the painting was created by artist Bernardo Cavallino. However, according to art expert Piero Porzio, “it is a work by Artemisia created with the extensive participation of Bernardo Cavallino.” They believe that Artemisia is the owner of the commission and the creator of the composition. In the catalog entry, the question of collaboration between the two artists is clearly spelled out.
Porzio writes in the catalog that some critics think that the painting, called “Galatea,” was made by a single artist, and that another scholar, Raymond Ward Bissell, believes that this is true based on the painting’s iconography, conception, and how big it is.
This painting has been linked to a commission from Don Antonio Ruffo, an important art collector from Messina, to Artemisia Gentileschi. This means that the painting is probably authentic and was made by her.
The National Gallery of Art (NGA) has found no evidence that Artemisia, the artist who won the commission to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, painted the work with two different hands. curator Eve Straussman-Pflanzer says she looks forward to seeing the exhibition in March and attending the study day where experts will discuss Artemisia’s Neapolitan period.
The painting Susanna and the Elders (1652) from a private London collection was once thought to be by Cavallino alone, but it was recently attributed to Gentileschi. The work was auctioned at Sotheby’s New York in January and had an estimated value of $1.8 million to $2.5 million.
There is a lot of debate about Artemisia’s collaboration with other painters in Naples during her later years. In this lot, for example, Artemisia was responsible for the overall design and conception as well as the primary female nude figures. Some people think all the figures are by Artemisia.
The Naples exhibition catalog also mentions that Bernardo Cavallino could have been the author of the two male figures in Susanna and the Elders. This is because she often talked about the subject of Susanna in other works.
Meanwhile, two works on loan from the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Florida, Israelites Celebrating the Return of David and Bathsheba at Her Bath (1650s), are listed in the catalog as by Gentileschi; the US museum classifies the works as “workshop of Artemisia Gentileschi”.
Some people think that the silhouettes and rough landscapes in the background of the Israelites Celebrating the Return of David were created by someone called Gargiulo, while others think that Artemisia was responsible for everything. It’s clear that Palumbo only worked under Artemisia’s direction.
The Ringling Museum of Art says that Bathsheba at Her Bath was likely painted by multiple artists, each of whom contributed to different parts of the composition. This is a common way for artists to work together in the 16th century, according to the museum.
Some people think it’s hard to agree on what Gentileschi’s work looks like because we don’t know a lot about her assistants and it’s hard to judge how different her paintings might have looked if she had worked with different people over the years. Recently, we’ve found more documents and paintings that help us understand her work better, so now it’s important to revisit how her paintings look around the time she was working with different people.