Artemisia Gentileschi – a symbol of a woman’s struggle for the right to be an artist in 17th-century Italy – became the first woman to be admitted to the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence, the oldest in Europe. Gentileschi’s most recognizable work, Judith Beheading Holofernes, depicts the act of reprisal of a chaste virgin against a male enemy.
For Artemisia, who survived an act of violence at a young age, this work became not only a homage to the famous painting by Caravaggio, but also a way to cope with her childhood trauma. Several books have been written about the life of Artemisia Gentileschi, and in 1997 the French director Agnes Merlet made a feature film based on her biography.