For most of recorded history, Fame has been seen as a purely male achievement. From Ramses II and his overpowering statues at Abu Simbel to Napoleon dramatically shown on a rearing white horse as he crossed the Alps, it’s the guys who got to leave triumphal images of their deeds whether they were actual triumps or not. Ramses II had at best a stalemate at the Battle of Kadesh, and it was his wife, Nefertari, who brokered the peace through a letter to the Hittite queen. Napoleon would not have so easily ridden into Italy had the black General of the Army of the Alps, Alex Dumas, (yes, father of the famous writer of the same name) not done the heavy lifting to clear the way.
In the painting above, a beautiful, mature woman, richly dressed, and holding a trumpet as a symbol of her much heralded fame, looks off to the side. She has no need to stare the viewer down. Instead we are able to fill our eyes with this woman’s subtle, sophisticated, socially cultured countenance and feel the inner strength and confident power of a woman who knew her own worth. She is someone who has survived some of life’s worst and lived not only to tell the tale but to reach heights of success and recognition unknown to the females of her day. Meet Artemisia Gentileschi.
In this self-portrait (and as an artist, I marvel at how she captured that pose), the artist shows herself in the act of painting. While she holds her palette in her left hand and the paint brush in her right, these tools of painting are not the allegory of painting. Artemisia, the artist, as the figure doing the painting is the allegory of painting, personified. The road to get to the status shown in the two pictures above was anything but smooth, starting with an absolute tragedy and travesty that occured in her adolescence.
Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1653) was the daughter of a noteworthy painter in Rome, Orazio Gentileschi. Seeing that she was talented, her father allowed her to spend a lot of time in his studio where she learned many of her skills. The studio was frequented by a number of male painters. The presense of a beautiful young girl in that environment must have gotten her any number of comments and reactions from those men, many of them unwanted. Perhaps it was that which inspired her painting of Susannah and the Elders in 1610.
For a little refresher on this Bible story, the leering, scheming men pictured here make unwanted advances to Susannah, a married woman, who expected to have privacy as she bathed in the garden of her home. Susannah clearly rejected their advances, so the two men accused her of adultery, a crime punishable by death. (In other words, if they couldn’t have her, no one could.) However, the prophet Daniel had the wisdom to have the two men questioned separately, which resulted in two completely different versions of what had happened. Susannah’s virtue was vindicated, and the two old men were put to death. (For a look at three painted versions of this theme, two by males and one by Artemisia, go to the Art Blog at vernellestudio.com)
Artemesia’s painting of that tale shows Susannah’s distress at this indecent proposal and the old men, one whispering in the ear of the other as they scheme to have sex with her. What things Artemisia must have heard in her father’s studio from all those different men. One of the men, Agostino Tassi, who some say was hired to tutor Artemisia, wound up raping her. Her father demanded that Tassi marry her, which Tassi did not, so her father did an unusual thing, he brought suit against Tassi. The whole thing was quite a sensation because of the unusual public airing of this misdeed. Tassi was convicted and a punishment set, though it was never carried out. Tassi went on to steal some of Orazio’s paintings and claim them as his own. Such is the life of a complete bounder. Meanwhile Artemisia had to endure having thumbscrews put to her fingers to see if she were telling the truth. Then she was married off to another painter, Pietro Antonio de Vicenzo Stiattesi, a long name that barely shows up in the annals of art history. Stiattesi moved the couple to Florence, where it was Artemisia who became the favorite painter of Grand Duke Cosimo de Medici.
Orazio Gentileschi had been much influenced by the paintings of Caravaggio. Artemisia was to continue in that tradition. Her adherence to that chiaroscuro style was put to dramatic effect in this painting of the biblical heroine, Judith, who would slay the Assyrian general who threathened her people. In this painting Judith’s maidservant restrains Holofernes’ hands while Judith, actually quite calmly, severs his head from his body. They say that revenge is a dish best served cold. Artemisia served her revenge in a painting that was destined to become one of her most famous, never at all flinching artistically from the blood and gore.
The self-portrait above shows the artist portraying herself as St. Catherine of Alexandria. The story is of a noble, well-educated Christian princess (notice the crown she wears) who rebuked a Roman emperor for his cruelty. Since she was known for being extremely brilliant, the emperor thought to take her down a peg by arranging a public debate between Catherine and 50 philosophers. She won. However, the emperor showed his cruelty by having her tortured on a spiked wheel (shown in the painting) and then beheaded. In this painting the artist shows herself holding a long dried palm frond, known in the apocryphal Bible stories as the Palm of the Martyr. It is easy to speculate that the artist at this stage of her life was still feeling the anguish of her experience with Tassi and the humiliation which she here turns to spiritual triumph. The painting was taken out of the National Gallery in London in recent years and sent on a tour of businesses, doctors’ offices, schools, libraries, etc. to introduce the viewers to the art of this famous female painter. (For more see the post in the Art Blog at vernellestudio.com)
Artemisia went on to paint in London with her father Orazio, where her painting was well received, adding to her growing celebrity. From there she went with her husband to Naples, which may not have been her favorite location, but where she had success nevertheless. She died there in 1653 and is known in art history as the greatest of the women painters of the Baroque period, as well as a great painter all around. However, it is worthwhile to go back to those days when she was painting out her anger about what had happened to her and compare her version of the story of Danaë and the Rain of Gold to the same theme painted by her father. Briefly Danaë was another princess, whose father did not want her to fall in love, so he locked her away. However, the god Jupiter fell in love with her and invaded her sequestered chamber as a rain of golden coins. Artemisia painted the story in 1612, and a few years later in 1621, her father, Orazio painted the same theme.
Quite a different feeling, don’t you think? In the father’s version, Danaë seems to be welcoming Jupiter, as she must have realized she was being visited by a god because of the presence of the winged putti. In Artemisia’s version, Danaë has her eyes closed seemingly unaware or just uninterested in the fall of golden coins, which are being collected in the folds of the raised skirt of her maid. The Getty Museum paid 30.5 million dollars for Orazio’s painting at a Sotheby’s auction in 2016. To present Orazio’s painting for sale, Sotheby’s commissioned a female filmmaker, Pamela Romanowsky, to bring the painting to life. See here a short video interpretation of Danaë and the Shower of Gold by Orazio Gentileschi. youtube.com. Meanwhile, Artemesia’s version is in the Saint Louis Museum of Art, Saint Louis, MO.
While the short video is indeed a beautiful version of the story and one that goes well with the painting, we all know what Jupiter did. Artemisia knew, too, and painted her own tribulations around such events for all the world to see. Her life, though, stands as a reminder that the worst can be survived. Perhaps that is the reason for that side-eye glance in her portrait of Fame. This woman knew a thing or two.
All paintings used in the post are in Public Domain.
Articles used for this post provide further information on the life of the artist: “Artemisia Gentileschi, Brilliant Baroque icon.” artuk.org
“Artemisia’s Money: the Entrepreneurship of a Woman Artist in 17th century Florence.” www.academia.edu “Make It Rain Gold Coins, Gentileschi’s $25 Million Danae at Sotheby’s” barnebys.com.
Marjorie Vernelle is an artist, writer, college professor, and traveler. For more see the Pages at ofartandwine.com. Her author page is at amazon.com and her art at Vernelle Art Boutique vernellestudio.com.
Wine and Cheese: Just Like Love and Marriage.
We’ve all seen those couples. You know, the ones that blend so harmoniously together. Or those who seem to be total opposites, yet they work very well with one another. Wine and cheese fit into the category of the wonderful couple. Though just as with those other couples, selection is all important, and in the case of wine and cheese, we have to do the selecting.
First, let’s get a few basics out of the way. When it comes to consuming wine and cheese together in a civilized way (yes, I know the desire to wallow in a rich cheese can be nearly overwhelming, but restrain yourself), the best approach is sip-bite-sip. In other words, start with a sip of wine. Then have a bite of cheese followed by another sip of wine. This works well to keep the palate balanced, as many cheeses dry the mouth, making it necessary to wet the mouth again with the wine.
Next comes the issue of “chemisty,” that term so often used to refer to the magic that happens between certain couples. In terms of wine and cheese, it all boils down to levels of acidity or sweetness in the wine and levels of fat and flavor strength (mild to strong) in the cheese. One of the old adages about pairing wine and cheese is “What grows together, goes together.” This bit of wisdom comes from France, a country known for its wine and for is many cheeses. Former president of France and its WW II leader of the resistence to the Nazi occupation, Charles de Gaulle, once said, “How can you govern a country with 246 varieties of cheese?” Now, of course, it is closer to 400 varieties. However, that perspective is an interesting insight into both the pairing of wine and cheese and into French culture in general.
Since France is one of the leading producers of both wines and cheeses (that’s the grow together, goes together part), one favorite kind of cheese from there found on cheese platters everywhere is goat (chevre) cheese, which comes in lots of varieties. My personal favorite is Valençay, which has a smoked rind. Since goat cheeses tend to be pungent, the hands down favorite wine is sauvignon blanc. Its acidity cuts through the taste of the fat in the cheese. However, you can fight pungency with pungency by serving a sémillon blanc.
Brie and camenbert are two favorites for cheese platters. Brie can come in double and triple cream versions, so the fat content is high. Its taste is a lot milder than that of camenbert, which is also creamy but with a pungent smell and flavor. With these you break out the Champagne (or other sparkling wines). Since Champagne is often used for toasting before sitting down to dinner, should you choose to have a little appetizer also, these cheeses work well with cold cuts. The salts, the cream, the fats, all wash away with a good swig of bubbly. And for the camenbert in particular, a light unoaked chardonnay works nicely with camenbert’s strong taste. It’s a case of opposites attracting one another. One can also experiment with pinot grigio or pinot noir. While many wine experts do not favor drinking red wines with cheeses, pinot noir is a very drinkable red wine that pairs well with most foods including camenbert.
Washed rind cheeses are also common in France. They come encased in a outer skin made of hardened cheese. These cheeses tend to be aromatic and go well with gewurtztraminer or pinot gris. Some of these cheeses are reblochon, munster, limburger, and Stinking Bishop. Rich white wines work well, and one can always fall back on pinot noir. Actual hard cheeses like gruyere, asiago, gorgonzola, and emmental are salty and have higher fat, but a rich oaked chardonnay or an aged white rioja counteract the effects of the salt and fat to balance the palate and wet the mouth again after the drying qualities of these cheeses.
Finally we come to one of the more challenging cheeses, the blue cheeses. Yes, they are made of mold, but the good kind – penicillium, the one that helps us fight off diseases. Most are made from cow’s milk, but the famous roquefort comes from the milk of a ewe. Penicillium rogueforti is mixed into the milk or curd, and the whole concoction is left to mature in caves. Yes, there is a société of producers who create the cheese in dark, damp, chilly caves. It sounds horrific, but it tastes wonderful. Seventy percent of the world’s roquefort cheese is made by seven companies in that société. Blue cheeses are notoriously strong; however, the stiltons, roqueforts, and gorgonzolas just need a sweeter wine to pull their punch. That is where a sweet riesling or muscat come in and above all, sherry from Jerez in Spain.
Now you have the basics of what wines go well with what cheeses. With this you can avoid combinations that make each other taste bad. While this blog is dedicated to wine (and art), I do not want to leave the beer drinkers out of this conversation because beer goes wonderfully well with cheddar cheese. Of course, for those who indulge in hot dogs covered with cheddar, you earthy types already know this. However, as a lover of Champagne and hot buttered popcorn, I just wanted to show that Of Art and Wine is not too frou-frou to get down with some other good tasting combinations. Bon appétit!
Of Art and Wine affiliates with Bluehost.com and CellarsWineClub.com and may earn from qualifying purchases.
©marjorie vernelle 2021
Coming soon: Water, Waves, and Winslow Homer, plus Wine Tourism.
Winslow Homer is one of America’s great artists, most particularly when it comes to watercolor. Homer made many of his best watercolors as part of a contract that was to promote winter holiday tourism in the Caribbean islands. It worked. Tourism isn’t just for finding sunny beaches. It is for finding great wines, too.