But I also believe she was really in love with Tassi, and that he betrayed her. In one, a witness catches them cuddling half-naked in bed. The other has Gentileschi sharing a tender moment with Tassi in his jail cell during the trial. No records of the trial's outcome survive. While other feminists, including Germaine Greer, have suggested that Artemisia might indeed have been in love with the dashing and charismatic Tassi, Garrard dismisses such notions as a dangerously romanticized view of rape.
Art history has few female role models to spare.
Whatever really happened nearly 400 years ago, the sudden loss of hard-won Artemisia Gentileschi to a piece of titillating entertainment is not a welcome development for her longtime caretakers. But for better or worse, the movie's irrepressible Artemisia is capturing the fancy of a new crew of women looking for inspiration in a low-cut costume. A few of her paintings, along with selections from Orazio and Agostino's work, are on display at New York's Richard L. Feigen gallery, allowing for favorable comparisons of her efforts with those of her mentors real or supposed. On a recent Saturday, Fran Drescher and some friends paid a visit. Alyssa Katz is television critic for the Nation.