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| Artemisia Gentileschi Painter, Women's Right's Advocate Intellectual Ninja |
Gentileschi
painted for royalty and the mighty Medicis, produced emotionally charged work
that was, and still is, controversial for its portrayals of sex and violence.
Gentileschi is one of the best painters to follow the Great Baroque Master,
Caravaggio. She was also ninja enough to be the first woman admitted to the
prestigious and all but impossible to get into Academia di Arte del Disegno
(Academy of Fine Arts) in Florence.
She
was the victim of a sexual assault, and in a brave and unusual move for her
time she assisted in the prosecution of her assailant, even though it meant
being tortured with thumbscrews. The torture was just to make sure she was
telling the truth.
Artemisia
Gentileschi reminds us that not all the Great Masters were men, and
that genius
doesn't care about gender. Her
works dealt with challenging themes that still resonate today. Her story
reminds us far we have come with human rights, and how far we still have to go. Click here to read the rest of Artemisia Gentileschi's story.
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| Judith Slaying Holofernes |
If you are more interested in people who lived on the other side of the law, you may be interested in my Scourge of Scoundrels series:
Some material was previously published on Bubblews, and appears here with permission.
All images are in the public domain, or are used with permission. All rights reserved.
All images are in the public domain, or are used with permission. All rights reserved.
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Jason McBride is the creator of the Intellectual Ninja and the Scourge of Scoundrels series. He is also the author of Watch Out For Sneaker Waves. He is currently hard at work on his first book of fiction, available Spring 2014.
He is the proud father of four amazing children and the happy husband of one wife. He aspires to be an extreme sleeper.
