Artemisia: A Novel

I loved every page of this book, including the footnotes. It offers a fascinating and lively depiction not only of Artemisia's life but of life in general in the early 1600s. I found it gripping, and I recommend it highly. Now I'm anxious to get to the museums and churches that house her paintings as well as her father's!

Lapierre's novel is a remarkable narrative of the growth of the artist struggling to succeed against a father's envy, a rapist's lies, and a husband's self centered mediocrity. Artemisia's triumph is all the more startling because of the forces and circumstances with which she had to contend. The texture of Lapierre's plot is enriched by details of the artist's craft, the world of the business of art, and the processes of law as well as the variegated details of the historical dimensions of the seventeenth century. Liz Heron's translation is fluent and a pleasure to read.I recommend this novel to anyone interested in art, art history, and the triumph of the indomitable spirit.

Artemisia is a novel written by Alexandra Lapierre about the life of the Baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi. The novel is written in the 3rd person omniscient point of view which may be a bit disorienting for those not use to this literary style. The story is told by the narrator and it is not uncommon to be in the head of two different characters in the same paragraph. The author provides extensive research notes. I recommend this novel if you are interested in reading about the life of a fascinating 17th Century female artist.

Pleasure. She has not been acknowledged much as a powerful female figure and a wonderful, talented painter.

I first learned about Artemisia when I visited Milan in the fall of 2011 and saw an exhibition of her work. I have not met a woman who knew about her, not even among the most feminist of my female friends and acquaintances. Could it be because she was a highly sexual woman who was completely unapologetic about her rather extraordinary love life?

Wonderful’

Love this book. Gave my copy away a long time ago so needed another copy! Took its time getting to me, but am glad to have it back in my artist library!

This book by Alexandra Lapierre on the life of the female artist, Artemisia Gentileschi, is a fascinating study of the world of art and Europe during the seventeenth Century. Having read a few books on Caravaggio I had come across the name of Artemisia but knew very little of her other than that she had been raped by another artist and later went on to become quite famous herself. This book told the story of not only Artemisia and her art but also her father, Orazio Gentileschi, and showed how artistic rivalry, love, family, honour and a passion for art interlocked their lives and careers.The book is not a novel as the title suggests but is indeed a historical biography of Artemisia Gentileschi and her times. The author has used her skills as a novelist to fill gaps in the story of Artemisia but only with the greatest sense of historical correctness. The author has carried out extensive research on her subject and has used the results of this research to help fill the gaps in the story of this famous artist. She lets the reader know that at times she has fictionalised some of the narrative but never the facts.Alexandra Lapierre provides the reader with comprehensive notes and references to show the reader why she has decided to use certain narrative or placed a particular slant on her perspective of some events. I found that this manner of story telling in this particular account did not detract from the book in any fashion. It may not please those historians or experts in the field of art but to me, a novice, I found it a great approach to help the reader understand this great artist and the times she lived in.A number of colour plates are provided of not only Artemisia's paintings but also her fathers and other artists involved in her story. A number of maps have also been placed in the book to assist the reader with following the story, events and travels of Artemisia.The story itself was well told and in particular I found the account of the rape case very interesting. This is an intriguing and very enjoyable book and I hope that the idea of some of the narrative being fiction will not put other readers off. In fact the 80 pages of notes used by the author to support her account makes fascinating reading in themselves. The book is over 500 pages and I found it a very easy to read account and it has provoked in me a desire to learn more about this great female artist. This book is well worth the effort to sit down and read and I hope that many other readers out there enjoy this book as much as I did.Just for the interest other readers, in Australia the book is titled `Artemisia: The Story of a Battle for Greatness'. Following are some reviews taken from the back cover:"A book bristling with adventure, noise, passion and colour which recreates Baroque Italy in all its diversity, from the ballrooms to the torture chambers, from trials to marriages, from drinking parties to underground conspiracies" - Les Echos."Alexandra Lapierre has succeeded in enabling a non-specialist of the seventeenth century (99.9% of the population) to experience an artist's struggle through great literature." - Elle.