Artemisia Gentileschi

From October 20 to April 4, 2027, the Museo degli Innocenti in Florence is hosting an exhibition dedicated to the life and career of Artemisia Gentileschi, with a particular focus on the years she spent in Florence.

Artemisia reached Florence between late 1612 and early 1613 and remained there until 1620, during a decisive phase in her artistic development.

In 1616, she became the 1ˢᵗ woman accepted into the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno, thereby gaining full entry into the city’s professional and cultural circles.

She frequented the Medici Court, formed rapports with prominent cultural figures of the time and engaged with the vibrant Florentine art scene of the 17ᵗʰ century.

The exhibition explores this pivotal period, during which Artemisia developed her own pictorial language and solidified her position in an artistic milieu that was still predominantly male.

The exhibition brings together over 50 works, from more than 40 museums, foundations and public and private collections, placing Artemisia’s paintings in dialog with those of some of the leading figures in 17ᵗʰ-century Florentine painting, thereby reconstructing the cultural context of her artistic development. 
Among the works on display is also Boy Peeling Fruit, a painting attributed to Caravaggio.

The exhibition then features works from her later period, created during Gentileschi’s subsequent stays in Naples and London. Among the paintings on display are Judith and Her Maidservant, Lady with a Fan and Paolo and Francesca.

The exhibition likewise offers an opportunity to rediscover Artemisia’s connection to Florence through the works still preserved in the city today, including Lady with a Fan at the Pitti Palace, Judith Beheading Holofernes at the Uffizi Gallery and Allegory of Inclination at Casa Buonarroti.

Tickets for the exhibition also grant access to the entire permanent collection of the Museo degli Innocenti.