Cléopâtre

Cleopatra, painted around 1625 during Artemisia's years in Florence and Rome, belongs to her repeated engagement with images of powerful women from ancient history. Her Cleopatra is neither a victim nor a temptress but a woman of monumental physical presence exercising sovereign control over her own fate — the asp applied to her own arm in a deliberate act of self-determination. Artemisia's ability to inhabit the psychology of her female subjects from the inside — to paint women who are agents rather than objects of male desire or violence — is the quality that makes her exceptional among her Caravaggesque contemporaries. The dramatic chiaroscuro and the figure's physical authority reflect her complete command of the Caravaggesque manner she had absorbed from her father Orazio.

The figure of Cleopatra is rendered with the strong chiaroscuro and naturalistic modeling typical of Caravaggist painting. Gentileschi's confident handling of flesh tones and dramatic lighting creates a powerful female presence.