|
The First Art Newspaper on the Net |
 |
Established in 1996 |
|
Monday, September 8, 2025 |
|
The Nivaagaard Collection acquires a new masterpiece, becoming the first Danish museum to feature Artemisia Gentileschi |
|
|
Artemisia Gentileschi, Susanna and the Elders (164448). Oil on canvas, 200 × 150 cm. The painting depicts the apocryphal story of Susanna, who, while bathing, is accosted by two powerful men threatening to accuse her of adultery punishable by death if she refuses to submit to them.
|
NIVÅ.- The Nivaagaard Collection has acquired the painting Susanna and the Elders (164448) by the eminent female Italian Baroque painter Artemisia Gentileschi. The work is the most important addition made to the collection since 1908; a collection which also includes a masterpiece by another of art historys major female pioneers, the sixteenth-century artist Sofonisba Anguissola.
The Nivaagaard Collection has, as the first museum in Denmark, acquired a major work by a truly outstanding woman artist of the seventeenth century: the Italian Baroque painter Artemisia Gentileschi (1593 c. 1656).
Created by Artemisia Gentileschi between 1644 and 1648, the newly acquired painting depicts the story of Susanna and the Elders, a central and recurring subject in the artists oeuvre. Susanna is the theme both of the earliest known work from Artemisias hand painted when she was only seventeen years old, demonstrating her exceptional talent and of her last known painting before her death. The Nivaagaard painting is a highly interesting version from her later period.
Trained as a painter in her fathers studio, Artemisia Gentileschi was one of the very few women painters in early art history to make a living as a recognised and independent professional artist. This in spite of dramatic life in which, as a very young woman, she was raped and later tortured during the subsequent trial in order to prove the truthfulness of her testimony. Through her striking and technically highly accomplished works, which represent a unique perspective on powerful female figures, she has achieved iconic status.
The Nivaagaard Collection was already fortunate enough to own a masterpiece by another major female pioneer in art history, Sofonisba Anguissola (15321635). The acquisition of Artemisia Gentileschis painting forms the best possible counterpart to this work, asserting itself as the museums most important acquisition since Johannes Hage donated his collection to Nivaagaard in 1908.
A central position
Artemisia Gentileschi grew up in Rome, where she was trained as a painter by her father, the acclaimed artist Orazio Gentileschi, and became one of the first women to be admitted to the prestigious Accademia delle Arti del Disegno in Florence. She initially developed a style inspired by Caravaggios realism and dramatic use of light, but soon found her own artistic voice and favourite subject matter. She achieved significant recognition in her own time, including through the sale of works to the Medici family in Florence and to King Charles I of England.
Artemisia often addressed religious subjects, which she reinterpreted in her paintings. Inspired by biblical and mythological themes, she highlighted heroines capable of triumphing over male dominance through intelligence or cunning. Through her repeated depictions of figures such as Susanna, Judith, Mary Magdalene, Cleopatra and Lucretia, she portrayed female characters as protagonists endowed with agency, dignity and strength. This approach has earned Artemisia a central position in art history.
Artemisias subjects represent a unique perspective on women in seventeenth-century art, and she brought new power to the female nude in Baroque painting. Like Caravaggio, she painted directly from live models, using no preparatory sketches. A technically accomplished painter, she mastered the artistic technique of using strong contrasts of light and shadow to create depth, dynamic compositions and drama in her paintings.
Susanna and the Elders
The story of Susanna is the subject to which Artemisia Gentileschi most often returned throughout her life, and the central role played by this theme in her oeuvre has often been interpreted in light of parallels to her own life, particularly her experience of rape and the subsequent violent trial.
Susanna is the subject of the earliest known work from Artemisias hand, painted in 1610, and of her last known work before her death, painted c. 1652. She created at least five other versions. Thus, Artemisias development as a painter can be clearly traced through her treatment of this particular subject. In the version of Susanna and the Elders from c. 164448 now acquired by The Nivaagaard Collection, a particularly distinctive artistic choice comes to the fore.
Among the various versions of the theme, several of which have achieved iconic status, this painting stands out. The other versions show Susanna turning away recoiling from the elders, or with her hands raised in a theatrical gesture. In contrast, in this version Susanna is placed at the centre of the picture plane, her almost naked upper body caught between the hands of one of the elders. Yet, she does not lean away to the same degree as in the other depictions. Instead, she looks directly back at her attackers with a firm expression of resistance and rejection, which Artemisia Gentileschi uses to lead us into the psychological struggle taking place before us. The life-size figures (the painting measures two metres in height) make it almost frighteningly easy for the viewer to identify with Susannas vulnerable position. The tension in the image is palpable and intense, but the dual aspects of vulnerability and strength are elegantly balanced.
A new theme in the collection
Until 2022, Sofonisba Anguissola was the only recorded woman artist in the museums collection of Italian Renaissance, Dutch Baroque, and Danish nineteenth-century art. In 2022, it was established that a portrait of an elderly woman already in the collection was painted by Sofonisbas sister, Europa Anguissola. And in 2025, the museum succeeded in acquiring two flower still lifes, a pair of pendants, by Flemish artist Catharina Ykens II, dating from c. 1688.
While Artemisia Gentileschis work stands alone in the collection as an example of Italian seventeenth-century art, it creates an important link between two chronological and geographical areas of the collection, establishing a new connecting thread. Sofonisbas long life overlapped with that of Artemisia Gentileschi, and the new acquisition enables the museum to showcase the transition from Mannerism to the Baroque in Italian art.
Furthermore, the new acquisition adds an engaging perspective to the many other religious subjects in the collection. This is a richly represented field, having been one of the chief interests of the museums founder, Johannes Hage.
Artemisia Gentileschi, Susanna and the Elders (164448), is part of the museums new display of its permanent collection.
|
|
|
|
|
Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography, Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs, Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, . |
|
|
|
Royalville Communications, Inc produces:
|
|
|
Tell a Friend
Dear User, please complete the form below in order to recommend the Artdaily newsletter to someone you know.
Please complete all fields marked *.
Sending Mail
Sending Successful
|
|