Artemesia Gentileschi

Today's painting is Judith by Artemesia. For those of you not familiar, Artemesia was one of the few female old master painters, a contemporary of Carravaggio and a great user of what I wish to talk about today, chiaroscuro. This painting is a fantastic example of the expert use of chiaroscuro (extreme light and dark) in order to express a high dramatic feeling. The dark background is contrasted by the pasty white skin of Judith and her cohert. These dark darks also lends itself to the use of lost edges, for example, the edge of the yellow dress in the foreground, as well as Judith's arm and sword. The limited palette used her also helps to be augmented by this high contrast drama. I will discuss chiaroscuro more in future paintings, but I just wanted to introduce the concept and this exceptional painter to you.