Artemisia - see the film Thursday 5/10 at 5:45 pm

If you've read the book, come to the library a little early to find out what went before Artemisia's marriage and career - at least as seen by French director Agnes Merlot in the film Artemisia. (R, 1997) The book begins where the film ends, with the ecclesiastical trial of the painter Agostino Tassi for the rape of Artemisia Gentileschi - a historic trial with a transcript available in the Vatican. Read Ebert's review here - http://tinyurl.com/p27ac

The book The Passion of Artemisia and the movie Artemisia have both been roundly criticized as historically inaccurate - read a little more about that controversy here: http://www.efn.org/%7Eacd/Artemisia.html

And for a version of the story more grounded in history, if less romantic, you could read Mary D. Garrard, Artemisia Gentileschi: The Image of the Female Hero in Italian Baroque Art (Princeton University Press, 1989). This book includes English translations of the artist's letters and testimony of the trial.

Kathleen