June - Week 2

Written 14/06/2025

TRIGGER WARNING: Contains references to rape, continue at your own caution.

Sketches based on her work

So, I did some rough 'vibe' sketches based on her work (getting a general feeling of the form rather than the details).

Sketch of 'Allegory As A Self-Portrait — Her face looks too sharp, think I got the pose pretty much down though!

Sketch of 'Jael and Sisera' — I think I captured what she was *about* to do

Sketch of 'Judith and her Maidservant — I like the expressions they have, though it took me a while to even notice the decapitated head was there in the original!

Sketch of 'Judith Slaying Holfernes — I like the composition of the women, but Holfernes is kinda barely there

Sketch of 'Self Portrait With Lute — This was WAY easier than the others, a sitting pose is generally much easier as there's less 'going on' (even with the lute)

Some observations I had:

The clothes are contemporary to the time she lived in (early to mid 1600s Italy/Naples) rather than when the actual stories took place (over 2000 years ago)
The fabric of the clothes is very detailed with deep folds
There is generally some sort of 'action' occuring
The shadows are VERY dark (likely since the backgrounds were initially painted black and then the lighter colours added, from what I have read so far that's how Baroque art was often done)
The faces of her subjects have a shadow cast on them
There are vibrant (though not garish) colours that contrast the backgrounds
Lots of shading to get realistic lighting effects - that will be a struggle for me I'll admit now
The women are all somewhat plump (not sure if this is due to contemporary tastes or because Artemisia was somewhat plump herself - based on her self portraits anyway?)

Specific artwork I will be focusing on

Susanna and the Elders, 1610

Susanna and the Elders by Artemisia Gentileschi

Some background info

This isn't something I normally include, but this particular painting has some interesting history to it (the painting itself I mean, not the story it is about). My partner literally mentioned this to me today (and I'm a little annoyed at myself for not having found this information on my own earlier in the week) but this painting is actually not quite what it seems. Meaning that there's an underpainting that is rather different to the final version.

As documentedhere,in 1998 Kathleen Gilje did a painting meticulously based on both Susanna and the Elders and what was X-Rayed underneath. (Though that website seems to think this was done after her rape, which from what I could see elsewhere isn't the case but it's hard to know exactly when paintings were done). In the X-Ray, we see that Susanna is screaming at her assailants (who are grabbing her hair!) and is physically defending herself with a knife which is far more visceral than the final version where she is trying to push them away (and they aren't touching her) and has a look of distress (which is still poignant but there isn't any anger there really). Here's what that looks like.

Susanna and the Elders, Restored by Kathleen Gilje. Based on Susanna and the Elders by Artemisia Gentileschi

Why this one?

Well, I must admit I sort of worked backwards with this one. I knew that this month I wanted to do a painting inspired by the story of Blodeuwedd and a big theme of Blodeuwedd is being wronged by the men around her (and sadly not killing the bastards) so I thought this piece of creepy men looming over a young woman fit that 'vibe' the best? Like it isn't my favourite piece of hers (that would be Judith Slaying Holfernes) but it feels the most 'fitting' as a point of reference for my final plan.

Sketches based on specific artwork

Similar to what I did last month, I did a pencil drawing of the artwork and then I did a quick painting of it too to get a rough basis of colours (and also the shading).

Sketch of Susanna and the Elders — Practising this made me notice the rule of thirds, the men are mostly confined to the top third but are then encroaching into the middle third which is where Susanna's domain starts. I'm not a fan of the expressions here, whenever I try a 'realistic' style it tends to look stiff. Also hands are the BANE of my existence, especially realistic ones! I think her body looks good though so there's that.

Basic painting copying Susanna and the Elders — It was a struggle to get the skin as pale as I wanted (I didn't want to waste too much white gouache paint!). This looks 'cartoonier' than I intended but ironically looks better than the pencil sketch to me probably for that reason? This made me notice one of the men is likely drunk, based on his flushed cheeks (I genuinely hadn't noticed until I started to properly observe the colours).