Artemisia Gentileschi Timeline

Completed at age 17, Susanna and the Elders (1610) is Gentileschi's earliest surviving work, now in the Schönborn collection at Schloss Weißenstein in Pommersfelden. It is considered one of her best-known subjects.

Image source: Susanna and the Elders (Artemisia Gentileschi, Pommersfelden)

Gentileschi's first Judith Beheading Holofernes (1612–13), smaller in size than later versions, is displayed in the Museo di Capodimonte, Naples. It is one of her most celebrated dramatic subjects.

Image source: Judith beheading Holofernes

Between about 1614 and 1620, Gentileschi painted her famous version of Judith Slaying Holofernes, now housed in the Uffizi gallery in Florence. It remains one of her best-known works.

Image source: Judith Slaying Holofernes (Artemisia Gentileschi, Naples)

Gentileschi's Susanna and the Elders (1622) is often associated with the style introduced by Guercino, reflecting the growing popularity of the Bolognese School during the period of Pope Gregory XV (1621–23).

In 1625, Gentileschi created Judith and Her Maidservant, now in the Detroit Institute of Arts, one of several treatments of the Judith theme that rank among her best-known subjects.

Corisca and the Satyr, created between 1630 and 1635, is an example of the symbolic content in Gentileschi's work during her early Neapolitan period.

Works from this period include the Susanna and the Elders (1649) today in Brno, the Virgin and Child with a Rosary in El Escorial, the David and Bathsheba in Columbus, Ohio, and the Bathsheba today in Leipzig.

Her David with the Head of Goliath, rediscovered in London in 2020, has been attributed by art historian Gianni Papi to Gentileschi's London period.

Another work by Gentileschi, Susanna and the Elders, previously owned by Charles I, was rediscovered in the Royal Collection in London in 2023.

Image source: Royal Collection

Historians know that in 1649 Gentileschi was in Naples again, corresponding with Don Antonio Ruffo of Sicily, who became her mentor during this second Neapolitan period.

The last known letter to her mentor Don Antonio Ruffo is dated 1650 and makes clear that Gentileschi was still fully active as an artist.

Although once believed to have died in 1652 or 1653, modern evidence shows Gentileschi was still accepting commissions in January 1654, though she was increasingly dependent upon her assistant Onofrio Palumbo.

Her exact time of death is disputed, but some have speculated that she died in the devastating plague that swept Naples in 1656 and virtually wiped out an entire generation of Neapolitan artists.

George Eliot may have been the first writer to produce a novel around the figure of Gentileschi in Romola (1862–63), where some aspects of her story, set in Florence in her time, are recognisable but much embroidered.

Image source: Romola

Italian critic Roberto Longhi's research paper 'Gentileschi, padre e figlia' (1916) described Gentileschi as 'the only woman in Italy who ever knew about painting, coloring, drawing, and other fundamentals', reviving critical attention to her work.

Image source: Roberto Longhi

Anna Banti, wife of critic Roberto Longhi, published Artemisia in 1947, a fictional account of Gentileschi's life and a landmark literary treatment of the artist.

Image source: Anna Banti

Gentileschi is one of the women represented in The Dinner Party, an installation artwork by Judy Chicago first exhibited in 1979, honouring significant women throughout history.

Image source: The Dinner Party

The first full, factual account of Gentileschi's life, The Image of the Female Hero in Italian Baroque Art, was published in 1989 by feminist art historian Mary Garrard, who followed it with Artemisia Gentileschi around 1622: The Shaping and Reshaping of an Artistic Identity in 2001.

Gentileschi's life and the Judith Slaying Holofernes painting played a pivotal role in the ITV miniseries Painted Lady (1997), starring Helen Mirren.

Image source: Painted Lady (TV series)

The film Artemisia (1997) by Agnès Merlet tells the story of Gentileschi's entry into being a professional artist, her relationship with Tassi, and the trial. Pollock (2006) interpreted the film as an example of popular culture focusing on one episode rather than her remarkable decades-long career.

Image source: Artemisia (film)

The exhibition 'Orazio e Artemisia Gentileschi' took place in Rome in 2001 and afterwards in New York, exemplifying the major institutional recognition her talents received in the 20th and 21st centuries.

Susan Vreeland published The Passion of Artemisia (2002), a biographical novel based on the artist's life, continuing the tradition of literary works inspired by her story.

Gentileschi appears in Eric Flint's Ring of Fire alternate history series, being mentioned in 1634: The Galileo Affair (2004) and figuring prominently in 1635: The Dreeson Incident (2008), as well as appearing in shorter stories in the 1632 universe.

Gentileschi was the subject of a 2015 BBC documentary, Michael Palin's Quest for Artemisia, exploring her life and art.

Image source: Artemisia Gentileschi

Breach Theatre's It's True, It's True, It's True (2018) is a play derived from the transcripts of the rape trial, first performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival where it won The Stage Edinburgh award and a Fringe First award.

In 2020, the documentary film Artemisia Gentileschi, Warrior Painter, directed by Jordan River, was produced about her life and artistry.

After touring the UK, Breach Theatre's It's True, It's True, It's True, translated from Latin and Italian into conversational English, was broadcast on BBC Four on 9 February 2020.

Image source: The Creator (2023 film)

Forward Theater in Madison, Wisconsin, along with World Premiere Wisconsin, commissioned and premiered Artemisia, written by Lauren Gunderson, running 13–30 April 2023.

Image source: Lauren Gunderson

The Light and The Dark (the life and times of Artemisia Gentileschi), a play by Kate Hamill, premiered at Chautauqua Theater Company in August 2024, directed by Jade King Carroll, and was scheduled for Manhattan performances at Primary Stages at 59E59 Theaters in November 2024.

In July 2025, the Paris City Hall named a square after the painter: Place Artemisia-Gentileschi, cementing her enduring legacy in public memory.