1. The Issue of Biological Essentialism in Art
Artemisia Gentileschi and the Image of the Female Hero in Italian Baroque Art
Edited By: Dr. Picart
Associate Professor of English
Courtesy Associate Professor of Law

2. Aims Discuss biological essentialism in the Italian baroque.
Show how Gentileschi and her contemporaries interpreted traditional gendered themes and how the interpretations related to ideas of biological essentialism.
Show how Gentileschi’s interpretation was markedly different from her contemporaries.

3. The Issue of Biological Essentialism
What is Essentialism?
What is Biological Essentialism?

4. Class Activity
Using what you have learned about the depiction of the female hero and Gentileschi’s art, examine the similarities and differences in the following set of paintings. Discuss compositional elements as well as issues of iconography and what you perceive as artist intent.

5. Questions for discussion
When art historians discuss major canonical works, they speak of “Old Masters” and “masterpieces.” How do feminists deal with the problems of jargon when writing their own critiques?
Why are some figures canonical and others excluded? Gentileschi, Frida Kahlo, Georgia O’Keefe seem to be included in many survey texts. Is there an attempt by art history to counter the historical dominance of male artists to create its own “woman worthies”? What are some problems with classifying figures as ‘major artists,’ i.e. canonical.
Holger Maass states that his digitally manipulated photographs are related to ads and TV commercials. To what extent do we witness biological essentialism in modern art or ‘common’ arts such as advertising? What does such art say about our culture?

6. Sources
Garrard, Mary. Artemisia Gentileschi: the Image of the Female Hero in Italian Baroque Art. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1989.
Ripa, Cesare. Baroque and Rococo Pictorial Imagery: The Hertel Edition of Ripa’s ‘Iconologia’ with 200 Engraved Illustrations. Ed. Edward A. Maser. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1971.
Grosz, Elizabeth. “Sexual Difference and the Problem of Essentialism.” Inscriptions. Vol 5. “Traveling Theories, Traveling Theorists.” Eds. Faith Beckett, James Clifford, Vivek Dhareshwar, Mary E. John. Santa Cruz, CA: Center for Cultural Studies, 1989.
“The Nine Worthies.” Heraldica. 7 July 2004.
Image sources:
Biological essentialism
genderstudies/
Gentileschi’s Susanna and the Elders
Tintoretto’s Susanna and the Elders

7. Sources
Orestes Sarcophagus
 Michelangelo’s Expulsion From the Garden
Gentileschi’s Judith Slaying Holofernes
Caravaggio’s Judith Beheading Holofernes
Gentileschi’s Self Portrait as Allegory of Painting
Maass’s Judith Und Holofernes