X is for Pope Innocent X,
not Women
Janet Kuypers
Started 8/4/22, completed 8/8/22, edited 8/9/22
Question not how this painter came
Under my purview
But why
#
Artemisia Gentileschi stood out
Among painters over the centuries —
Not only because she was a Baroque painter
Drowning in a sea of male painters
But
Because her first painting I saw
Was of Judith
(from the deuterocanonical
Book of Judith in the Bible)
Judith, decapitating Holofernes
Now, although she may have painted
Expected biblical paintings at that time,
She tried to show her women
Not as pristine and picture-perfect
But more natural, more realistic, and most
Importantly, as strong women who fight.
What she focused on in Biblical paintings
Was on attacks, rapes, now viewed
From the woman’s perspective.
This was something never done before.
And these were not easy times for women
(they’re still not)
So, when I look through paintings
Over the centuries, Artemisia’s
Strength stood out.
Strength, in women, in paintings, from a woman.
#
In the Old Testament, Holofernes is the
Enemy to the Israelites. As the story goes,
Judith may be his divinely appointed assassin,
But the similarities are too shocking
Between Judith and Artemisia Gentileschi.
For I only read later that because her
Father/painter Orazio was a close friend
Of the famous painter Caravaggio,
That may have been the reason why
Artemisia, so young, grasped such
Complex painting skills in the Baroque age.
Before Judith could save her people by
Twisting a knife into the assailant’s neck...
Artemisia’s father hired the
Upcoming artist Agostino Tassi
to give Artemisia lessons.
Tassi later raped her —
With accusations leading to a
Seven-year trial.
This is where I read
Of her compelling and courageous
Testimony, while oppression was still
A part of day-to-day life for all women.
“I scratched his face and pulled his hair and,
before he penetrated me again,
I grasped his penis so tight that
I even removed a piece of flesh,”
She said in court as they literally
Tortured her during her testimony
(“Sibille” was wrapping her fingers
With ropes to pull tight — to
Extract “the truth” during trial).
So, she was tortured (while even in
Court transcripts she repeated,
While tortured,
“It is true,
it is true,
it is true,
it is true.”
...And yes, she was tortured
But Tassi the rapist was not.
I later read that after she was raped
At least one other man was there and didn’t stop it
(which reminds me that all of her paintings
Of acts of sexual violence,
All contain at least one voyeur).
Her father may have even known of the rape
But said nothing, because
After a virgin’s raped at seventeen,
The only way to keep her honor clean
Is if Tassi would marry her.
Think of that, the only way
Back in the day she wouldn’t feel
defiled” is if she married her rapist.
Only after Tassi backed out on marrying her
(the man whom others claim in testimony
Killed his first wife),
Only when the wife-killing rapist Tassi
Backed out on marrying Artemisia,
That is when her father
Filed rape charges against Tassi.
But none of that even matters when in the
Wild art world of Caravaggio’s Rome
artists were rich, arrogant and could do
Almost anything they liked as long as
They stayed in the pope’s good graces.
For this is apparently the case for Tassi —
An artist forgotten today —
“Rated” then and protected by
Pope Innocent X. This
Explains why we believe
Tassi received no real punishment,
And Artemisia had to leave Rome
To leave the scorn she then received.
If her only schooling was in art,
She deduced this would be her tool to
Exact her revenge, depicting scenes
From a woman’s perspective,
Giving true insight and depth
To the torture women feel,
Perfectly depicted in her images.
Even through Britain she was courted;
Artemisia even became the first woman
Accepted into the prestigious
Accademia delle Arti del Disegno,
Which allowed her to
(wait, listen to this one,
I want this part to soak in)
Her admittance allowed her to
Purchase her artistic supplies
Without her husband’s permission,
And to sign her own contracts.
How bold of men, to give a
Woman that much power.
Oh, wait, I’m supposed to remember:
If we don’t have rights now, and the
U.S. government want to take more
Basic rights away from women after
They overturned Roe v. Wade, well,
Back in the day it was so much worse...
#
It’s funny, I try to act all high-brow,
Claim I know art, because that implies
I’m quote unquote important,
But when I start to look into art,
I see
Women fighting injustices to reveal
How better-suited for the world we women are
Despite the gags around women while raped;
Despite the mentality of the rapist gender
That women shouldn’t control their lives
It’s funny
That I can look at something as simple
As a few paintings from
Approaching half a millennia ago,
How I can incorporate something
As snotty as art — and
Weave that emotional pain in art
Into the pain I see today.
Only one in three women are
Raped in their lifetimes now
(isn’t that funny, how flippantly
that slides off my tongue here)
But only one in three may feel that pain,
But more than that feel what
Select U.S. states are imposing
On women now, in this millennium.
I wonder how many more barricades
Women must hurdle
To prove that we know
What’s best for our bodies.
Now men want to take more basic
Reproductive rights away from women.
Many men never regard women’s health
Before they plant their “seed”;
Now their “trigger laws” show proof
That men care for an unborn embryo
More than a living, breathing woman.
Ones they think they can inseminate
And think their job is done. You men
Created this mess, don’t expect women
To care for your mistakes for decades.
I can’t tell you how many years
That, when together, women
Have controlled men’s finances...
So, I think it’s about time men realize:
We have the right to
Control ourselves too.
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