Anna Banti’s Artemisia is a work of both historical
fiction and a biography, interwoven into one tale. Banti’s story is based on a fictional
character named Artemisia who must deal with the loss of an important
manuscript that details the real life struggles of Artemisia Gentileschi, who became
a famous female Italian artist. Both these
women, the real Artemisia and the fictional Artemisia experienced adversity,
oppression, and misfortune in their lives.
As females with aspirations to pursue their talents in a male dominated
world, both must deal with disapproval.
Artemisia is the daughter
of Orazio, a professional painter. She
appreciates him for his many artistic talents and longs to be like him. Banti writes, “she dreams in her imagination
of kissing his right hand that now strikes the flint.” (31). In this particular
quote, Banti reveals Artemisia’s deep admiration for her father and aspires to
be a professional artist just like him. Unfortunately
Artemisia’s talent for painting is disregarded by her father. Rather than being praised for her abilities
as an artist she receives disapproval and condemnation. “But Orazio’s difficult
love has been removed from her and its great value is a sword that slays all
weakness, the very image of which is enough to pierce through. She must wean herself from it if she does not
want to die of grief.” (26). In this
quote Artemisia realizes what she must do to escape the pain of her father’s
dejection, as he continues to refuse acknowledgement of her talents. It is through this reaction that she is able
to pursue her dream of becoming an artist.
In time she finally attains the recognition she has been seeking as an
artist both from others and her father, yet through it all she deals with many
struggles besieging a woman of her time.
You are looking at Artemisia's tortured relationship with her father and you are arguing that she chooses to escape her father's rejection. However, I view this statement that Artemisia declares to mean something entirely different. I don't think she ever escapes her father's rejection. She is constantly yearning for him to accept her till the end of the novel, hence, why she goes to London. In this statement I think she means that she is going to let his rejection make her stronger. She is going to put her sadness and loneliness into her artwork. She after all is an artist and as we have discussed in class - artist are often times tortured, lost souls searching for who they are through their art.
ReplyDeleteThere is a passage on page 176 that gives a different perspective as to Artemisia's thoughts on her relationship with her father. Banti writes, "not because he disliked her, but because of his increasingly rigid intransigence in wanting to avoid the waste, the pain involved in loving." I agree that Artemisia will never truly escape her father's rejection, due to the fact that it traumatized her for the majority of her life. However, I do think that towards the end of the novel, just before Orazio passes away, Artemisia understands his loneliness and his fear of love. She realizes that no matter what she did, her father would have always kept her at a distance.
ReplyDeleteArtemisia receives much more than disapproval throughout the course of the novel. She experiences rejection, prejudice, and abandonment. These themes are exaggerated amongst others in the book. Artemisia's art is rejected by the public, especially the upper class. This rejection is due to prejudice against her being female. Additionally, Artemisia is rejected and abandoned by every male present in her life, minus her brother Francesco. The combination of rejection, abandonment, prejudice lead to an extreme lack of hope and an external guilt experienced by Artemisia.
ReplyDeleteArtemisia rejection by her father may seem horrific and mean to us, but there lies the problem of perspective. His fear of love as lead to his daughter's yearning of it, somewhat ironically. Though the rejection and prejudice she feels doesn't make her weaker but is what motivates her. Yes it's sad but Banti must have understood that no success comes without sacrifice and pain. Regardless this doesn't condone sexism and having a heart of coal, but it should be a lesson that life's hardest parts are the parts that make everything else look easy.
ReplyDeleteI think that Artemesia definitely has a very sad relationship with her father. From the beginning of the novel, by describing she and a rich friend of her's story, we can tell the Artemesia is deplete of a lot of things: love, concerns, and materials. She wants to receive approval from her father, who she admired full-heartedly, but he would not recognize her talents. Her father is not able to provide the things Artemesia needs the most. To grow out of her own deficiency and the societal standard, she definitely needs to be very motivated. It would be an interesting guess to say that Artemesia is fueled by the rejection and prejudice she receives.
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