Laura Freeman Laura Freeman

The life of Artemisia Gentileschi is made for Netflix, but it’s the art that really excites

‘I’ll show you what a woman can do’: Laura Freeman goes in search of this feminist heroine, survivor of abuse, canny player of the art market and bravura painter

Pleasure triumphant: ‘Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy’, c.1620–25, by Artemisia Gentileschi — and possibly a self-portrait 
issue 11 April 2020

‘It’s true, it’s true, it’s true.’ Over and over she said it. ‘E vero, e vero, e vero.’ It’s true he raped me. It’s true I was a virgin. It’s true all I say. Even under judicial torture, even with cords wrapped around her fingers and pulled tight, she did not waver.

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