Artemisia by Alexandra LaPierre
This is a novelized account of the life of Artemisia Gentileschi, a famous artist from 1600's Italy.
The author pulls upon a rich collection of primary source material. Nevertheless it really is a novel, which annoyed me (as did the very French style of writing). It was pretty good - but seemed to take forever to get through as it's quite dense and not extremely compelling to me.
I did learn much of Italy and Europe of the time - such as information about the 30 Years War which the author pulls in extremely well. I admit, I'm not terribly knowledgeable of European history, and not terribly interested in European art. But it's good to broaden my horizons.
What's most interesting is the title character herself. Artemisia Gentileschi is one of the most academically studied folks because of what an exception to all the rules she was. In addition to being a very talented painter, she created a life unknown to women at the time.
What was most interesting to me is how little has changed. Genius is all about not compromising, and being a woman in our culture is very much about compromising. Makes it difficult to be both without severe schizophrenia with multiple personality disorder.
The author pulls upon a rich collection of primary source material. Nevertheless it really is a novel, which annoyed me (as did the very French style of writing). It was pretty good - but seemed to take forever to get through as it's quite dense and not extremely compelling to me.
I did learn much of Italy and Europe of the time - such as information about the 30 Years War which the author pulls in extremely well. I admit, I'm not terribly knowledgeable of European history, and not terribly interested in European art. But it's good to broaden my horizons.
What's most interesting is the title character herself. Artemisia Gentileschi is one of the most academically studied folks because of what an exception to all the rules she was. In addition to being a very talented painter, she created a life unknown to women at the time.
What was most interesting to me is how little has changed. Genius is all about not compromising, and being a woman in our culture is very much about compromising. Makes it difficult to be both without severe schizophrenia with multiple personality disorder.
posted by NOLA at 7:57 PM
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