
Kiana Khansmith
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@cosmicizzy
Susanna and the Elders, Restored (Left)
Susanna and the Elders, Restored with X-ray (Right)
Kathleen Gilje, 1998
Oooh my gosh this is rad. This is so rad.
For those who donât know about this painting, the artist was the Baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi.
Gentileschi was a female painter in a time when it was very largely unheard of for a woman to be an artist. She managed to get the opportunity for training and eventual employment because her father, Orazio, was already a well established master painter who was very adamant that she get artistic training. He apparently saw a high degree of skill in some artwork she did as a hobby in childhood. He was very supportive of her and encouraged her to resist the âtraditional attitude and psychological submission to brainwashing and the jealousy of her obvious talents.â Â
Gentileschi became extremely well known in her time for painting female figures from the Bible and their suffering. For example, the one seen above depicts the story from the Book of Daniel. Susanna is bathing in her garden when two elders began to spy on her in the nude. As she finishes they stop her and tell her that they will tell everyone that they saw her have an affair with a young man (sheâs married so this is an offense punishable by death) unless she has sex with them. She refuses, they tell their tale, and she is going to be put to death when the protagonist of the book (Daniel) stops them.
So that painting above? That was her first major painting. She was SEVENTEEN-YEARS-OLD. For context, here is a painting of the same story by Alessandro Allori made just four years earlier in 1606:Â
Wowwwww. That does not look like a woman being threatened with a choice between death or rape. So imagine 17 year old Artemisia trying to approach painting the scene of a woman being assaulted. And she paints what is seen in the x-ray above. A woman in horrifying, grotesque anguish with what appears to be a knife poised in her clenched hand. Damn that shit is real. Who wants to guess that she was advised by, perhaps her father or others, to tone it down. Women canât look that grotesque. Sexual assault canât be depicted as that horrifying. And women definitely canât be seen as having the potential to fight back. Certainly not in artwork. Women need to be soft. They need to wilt from their captors but still look pretty and be a damsel in distress. So she changed it.Â
Whatâs interesting to note is that she eventually painted and stuck with some of her own, less traditional depictions of women. However, that is more interesting with some context. Â
(Warning for reference to rape, torture, and images of paintings which show violence and blood.)
So, Gentileschiâs story continues in the very next year, 1611, when her father hires Agostino Tassi, an artist, to privately tutor her. It was in this time when Tassi raped her. He then proceeded to promise that he would marry her. He pointed out that if it got out that she had lost her virginity to a man she wasnât going to marry then it would ruin her. Using this, he emotionally manipulated her into continuing a sexual relationship with him. However, he then proceeded to marry someone else. Horrified at this turn of events she went to her father. Orazio was having none of this shit and took Tassi to court. At that time, rape wasnât technically an offense to warrant a trial, but the fact that he had taken her virginity (and therefore technically âdamaged Orazioâs propertyâ. ugh.) meant that the trial went along. It lasted for 7 months. During this time, to prove the truth of her words, Artemisia was given invasive gynecological examinations and was even questioned while being subjected to torture via thumb screws. It was also discovered during the trial that Tassi was planning to kill his current wife, have an affair with her sister, and steal a number of Orazioâs paintings. Tassi was found guilty and was given a prison sentence ofâŠ. ONE. YEARâŠâŠ. Which he never even served because the verdict was annulled.
During this time and a bit after (1611-1612), Artemisia painted her most famous work of Judith Slaying Holofernes. This bible story involved Holofernes, an Assyrian general, leading troops to invade and destroy Bethulia, the home of Judith. Judith decides to deal with this issue by coming to him, flirting with him to get his guard down, and then plying him with food and lots of wine. When he passed out, Judith and her handmaiden took his sword and cut his head off. Issue averted. The subject was a very popular one for art at the time. Here is a version of the scene painted in 1598-99 by Carivaggio, whom was a great stylistic influence on Artemisia:
This depiction is a pretty good example of how this scene was typically depicted. Artists usually went out of their way to show Judith committing the act (or having committed it) while trying to detach her from the actual violence of it. In this way, they could avoid her losing the morality of her character and also avoid showing a woman committing such aggression. So here we see a young, rather delicate looking Judith in a pure white dress. She is daintily holding down this massive man and looks rather disgusted and upset at having to do this. Now, here is Artemisiaâs:
Damn. Thats a whole different scene. Here Holofernes looks less like heâs simply surprised by the goings ons and more like a man choking on his own blood and struggling fruitlessly against his captors. The blood here is less of a bright red than in Carrivaggioâs but is somehow more sickening. It feels more real, and gushes in a much less stylized way than Carrivaggioâs. Not to mention, Judith here is far from removed from the violence. She is putting her physical weight into this act. Her hands (much stronger looking than most depictions of womenâs hands in early artwork) are working hard. Her face, as well, is completely different. She doesnât look upset, necessarily, but more determined.Â
Itâs also worth note that the handmaiden is now involved in the action. Itâs worth note because, during her rape trial, Artemisia stated that she had cried for help during the initial rape. Specifically she had called for Tassiâs female tenant in the building, Tuzia. Tuzia not only ignored her cries for help, but she also denied the whole happening. Tuzia had been a friend of Artemisiaâs and in fact was one of her only female friends. Artemisia felt extremely betrayed, but rather than turning her against her own gender, this event instilled in her the deep importance of female relationships and solidarity among women. This can be seen in some of her artwork, and I believe in the one above, as well, with the inclusion of the handmaiden in the act.
So, I just added a million words worth of information dump on a post when no one asked me, but there we go. I could talk for ages about Artemisia as a person and her depictions of women (even beyond what I wrote above. Donât get me started on her depictions of female nudes in comparison to how male artists painted nude women at the time.)Â
To sum up: Artemisia Gentileschi is rad as hell. This x-ray is also rad as hell and makes her even radder.
I love art history.
Iâm reblogging this again to add something that I also think is important to know about Artemisia Gentileschi. Back in her time and through even to TODAY, there are people who argue that her artworks were greatly aided by her fatherâŠ. As in he either helped her paint them or just straight up painted them himself. Hell, there are a number of works only recently (past several years or so) that have been officially attributed to Artemisia because people originally saw the signature with âGentileschiâ in it and automatically attributed it to Orazio. So, not only was Artemisia Gentileschi an amazing artist and amazing historical figure, but I donât want it to be ignored that there are people over 400 years later who still wonât give her the credit she deserves, just because sheâs a woman and obviously women canât paint like she did.
Me: *exists*
Step mom: You're doing everything wrong!
Me: Omg Karen, is it your god given right to suck the light out of my life? I swear to godâ
Whenever Aziraphale wants to keep Crowley out of somewhereâ either because there's something in that specific room he doesn't want him getting into or, more frequently, they got into an argument over something stupid and Aziraphale is now feeling extremely pettyâ Crowley will come in to find a polite notice, in handwriting of the kind only a miracle can achieve, informing him that this door has been warded against him and there's no point in him even trying to open it.
And, if he does try, he'll soon find that he can't. Aziraphale can go in and out all he likes, bloody humans can stroll through if they want (if the angel hasn't bothered to also lock it the traditional way), but for Crowley it might as well be glued shut.
And this drives him mad.
Not the fact that doors are being sealed against him. That's annoying in the moment, sure, but Aziraphale will usually sort it once he's apologised for whatever it is that's got the angel so upset in the first place, and the amusement factor in seeing Aziraphale be so openly a Bastardâąïž more than makes up for it.
No, what gets Crowley's goat is that he has no idea how Aziraphale is doing it.
Aziraphale has been playing this trick since the late middle ages (Crowley spilled his drink on Aziraphale's copy of The Canterbury Tales. He miracled it better right away, but it was still about ten years before he was allowed back in the room where the angel kept his manuscript collection) and Crowley still hasn't figured it out.
He's consulted countless occult practitioners (in the guise of someone who was interested purely for academic reasons), he's tried various online forums, he's evenâ Hell help himâ had a go a doing some research in Aziraphale's own collection, but nothing helps.
There's no residue is the thing. Traditionally, wardsâ ethereal or infernal of originâ always leave something behind. Not least because they pretty much always involve some sort of physical substance (chalk or salt or holy waterâ though he knows the angel would never use that). And even if that didn't show up, Crowley should be able to sense the angel's magical signature. But there's nothing there.
Aziraphale himself will never tell him, no matter how much he begs. Partly because he knows that telling Crowley how he does it will be the first step in having Crowley figure out how to undo it, but mostly because he knows that the demon won't like the answer.
Because the reason Aziraphale is able to ward against Crowley so effectively, without leaving any sign that he's done anything, is because⊠he hasn't done anything.
Whenever Crowley has annoyed him to distraction, Aziraphale waits until the demon has gone out, goes to his back room and writes a note on a little slip of paper, explaining that Crowley won't be able to get in from now on. Then he sticks it to whatever door he wants 'warded'.
There is no magic or miracles involved. No reason whatsoever, in fact, why Crowley shouldn't be able to just ignore the note and open the door.
⊠Except, of course, the fact that Crowley doesn't Believe that the door will open for him.
Hey everyone remember that headcanon about Crowley being thwarted by his own imagination?
It got better.
I absolutely adore drawing Fem!Aziraphale
I am Good omens Trash and I am so not sorry....
Here, have some crowley in heelys on consecrated grounds...i'm sorry?
tired: Aziraphale isnât gay because heâs nonbinary
wired: Aziraphale IS gay because heâs still living in the 19th century and sees gender and sexuality as inextricably tied together
inspired: Aziraphale doesnât know how to quantify his gayness when his partner keeps hoarding the genders and bouncing around them
Someone: Arenât you gay?
Aziraphale, who presents masculine and uses he/him pronouns but has no particular attachment to gender, watching his spouse who is currently his wife superglue coins to the sidewalk: I have no idea how to answer that question.
This is the shit I live for
I'm an atheist, but the existence of coffee troubles me ya know? Like, how can something so perfect not b proof that god actually exists man?
Good omens is officially the gayest thing i've ever seen, and i think that's beautiful. So here, this is my contribution, have some dork Crowley wearing heart shaped glasses
âOrphanâ
Such a good time to be alive.....
I love this dork
Killer bby~~~
sobsÂ
GROSS SOBBING TTATT
What can I say? Steven Universe is amazing
Forever my Explosive Bby!!!