title: The Artemisia Files: Artemisia Gentileschi for Feminists and Other Thinking People
author:  Mieke Bal 
description: <DIV>&#160;One of the first female artists to achieve recognition in her own time, Artemisia Gentileschi (1593&#8211;1653) became instantly popular in the 1970s when feminist art historians &#8220;discovered&#8221; her and argued vehemently for a place for her in the canon of Italian baroque painters. Featured alongside her father, Orazio Gentileschi, in a recent exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Artemisia has continued to stir interest&#8212;though her position in the canon remains precarious, in part because her sensationalized life history has overshadowed her art.<BR>In <I>The Artemisia Files</I>,<I></I>Mieke Bal and a distinguished group of contributors look squarely at this early icon of feminist art history and the question of her status as an artist. Here, Artemisia emerges more fully as a highly original artist whose work is greater than the sum of the events that have traditionally defined her life and reputation, such as her relationship to her father and her role as the victim in a highly publicized rape case during which she was tortured into giving evidence. The six essays in <I>The Artemisia Files</I> offer a new critical assessment of Artemisia&#8217;s work by devising a variety of approaches that amend past injustices and reconsider the artist and her work from many different angles, including the question of attribution, critical judgment, personal confrontation, Artemisia&#8217;s historical context, the exhibition of her work, and popular recastings of her story. The fresh, engaging discourse in <I>The Artemisia Files </I>will help to both revive the reputation of this artist on the merit of her work and establish her rightful place in the history of art.<BR>&#160;<BR>&#160;<BR></DIV>
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  ![Cover image](image/9781488071621.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The Rebellious Sisterhood
  
  
  Female artists...taking their world by storm!
  
  
  Artemisia, Adelaide and Josefina plan to break the mold the male-centric art
  world has placed them in. They each have ambitions and are willing to fight
  for their rightful place—they know their worth, even if society doesn’t.
  
  
  From their base in Seasalter, Kent, the women use the only tool in their
  arsenal to have their voices heard: their paintbrushes. On their mission,
  might these rebellious women also find something they weren’t looking for—men
  to fight for and love them?
  
  
  Join the sisterhood in the new trilogy  
  by Bronwyn Scott
  
  
  Read Artemisia’s story in  
  Portrait of a Forbidden Love
  
  
  And look out for Adelaide's and Josefina’s stories
  
  
  Coming soon!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Author Note
  
  
  The setting for Artemisia’s story is particularly exciting historically and in
  its relevance in modern-day discussion. London’s Royal Academy of Arts was
  founded 