
In 1612, despite her early talent, Artemisia was denied access to the all-male professional academies for art. At the time, her father was working with
Agostino Tassi to decorate the vaults of Casino della Rose inside the
Pallavicini Rospigliosi Palace in
Rome, so Orazio hired the Tuscan painter to tutor his daughter privately. During this tutelage, Tassi raped Artemisia. Even though Tassi initially promised to marry Artemisia in order to restore her reputation, he later reneged on his promise and Orazio reported Tassi to the authorities.
In the ensuing 7-month trial, it was discovered that Tassi had planned to murder his wife, had enjoined in adultery with his sister-in-law and planned to steal some of Orazio’s paintings. During the trial Artemisia was given a gynecological examination and was tortured using a device made of thongs wrapped around the fingers and tightened by degrees — a particularly cruel torture to a painter. Both procedures were used to corroborate the truth of her allegation, the torture device used due to the belief that if a person can tell the same story under torture as without it, the story must be true. At the end of the trial Tassi was imprisoned for one year. The trial has subsequently influenced the
feminist view of Artemisia Gentileschi during the late 20th century.
The painting
Giuditta che decapita Oloferne (
Judith beheading Holofernes) (1612 - 1613), displayed in the
Capodimonte Museum of Naples, is impressive for the violence portrayed, and has been interpreted as a wish for psychological revenge for the violence Artemisia had suffered.
