Selbstporträt als Heilige Katharina von Alexandrien

Self Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria

The artist paints herself in the guise of Catherine of Alexandria, the 4th-century saint who survived being tied to a wheel studded with iron spikes. Her left hand rests on the instrument of her torture and the palm frond she holds signifies martyrdom. Painted in Florence, where Artemisia lived between 1613 and 1620, Saint Catherine's face is based on the artist's own features. At a time when she was gaining professional independence and considerable success, this may have been an act of conscious self-promotion. The work recalls the style of her father Orazio Gentileschi (1563-1639), under whom she trained in Rome. The tight crop and dramatic lighting owe much to Caravaggio (1571-1610).