The Passion of Artemisia

Rating:
Summary: Poorly written
Review: I was looking forward to reading this book, having read "M; The Life of Caravaggio" in the past. I was very disappointed. The writing level is extremely low. The characterization, dialogue, and description are around the level of a generic romance novel.

Further, I recently read David Hockney's fascinating and convincing book "Secret Knowledge: Rediscovering the Lost Techniques of the Old Masters" that demonstrates how optics were almost certainly used by artists of the time (and Artemisia is specifically sited with examples). Since the author of this Artemisia book seems unaware of the evidence (published in 2001), this book suffers from passionate descriptions (although not exacting) of foreshortening practice and other techniques that were unlikely to have been used by the artist. This poor research throws the authenticity of the whole book into serious question.

If you're interested in painting, I would suggest you look elsewhere.


Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Story
Review: After reading Girl in Hyacinth Blue, I picked up Artemisia's story. Life has sure eased up a great deal for women of this century--at least, American women. I really enjoyed this book and am looking forward to more books by Vreeland.

Rating:
Summary: Poor Research, inaccurate, doesn't deserve even 1 star
Review: While in the Uffizi in Florence this May, I decided to purchase this book after viewing Artemisia Gentileschi's paintings that the museum. My undergraduate career was focused in Art History and concentrated in Italian Renaissance works, so I am well knowledgeable about Artemisia and her influences. I when in to the book energized because from my research Artemisia's life is an amazing story for women. However, the lack of plot and inaccurate information left the last 300 pages painful to read, but I hoped each chapter would meet my expectations.
Save your time and money, better artistic reads are "The DaVinic Code" or "M; The Life of Caravaggio"

Rating:
Summary: Passion Tinged with Anger
Review: I admit to knowing nothing about the subject of this novel, Artemisia, the first woman painter admitted to the Academia dell'arte in Florence, other than the information gleaned from this book and the movie which deals with her earlier life. That being said, I admit to having no idea as to whether or not Vreeland successfully portrays the artist and the woman validly. I will say that the Artemeia who speaks in first person in this novel certainly knew what she wanted most in the world and took great pains to get it at the expense of many other people in her life. Vreeland uses her literary license to the extreme in conveying Artemesia's sensibilities as that of a modern day feminist even though she also does a fine job of exploring the focus of religion and God so prevalent during the historical period. Vreeland's Artemesia is an angry woman as is her right; she was raped by her father's collaborator and treated shabbily by her father who more or less chose his art over her respectability. But Vreeland uses this event, which is not related in the novel, to drive the character and at times her modern rationalizations do not match her 16th century inability to lash out about it. Even though Vreeland suggests that Artmesia realizes through her analysis of her father's actions regarding his family and how it fit in with his art, that her motivation was to manifest the beauty and ideal of God, the reader assumes that perhaps her quest for respect with regard to her rape drove her to create great art rather than her purer need to simply create.
Whether or not Vreeland is correct in her portrayal matters not, "The Passion of Artemisia" should be of interest to anyone who likes the Renaissance and novels revolving about the great art of the time. Mainly a character study of the title character, the novel suceeds in chronologically detailing the motivation behind Artemesia's major works while weaving the story of the artist's life after the rape. Artemesia's relationship with Galileo is especially of interest, like Artemisia, Vreeland's Galileo is wise and too astute for his time--- The depiction is devoid of any real romantic alliance, Vreeland's Artemisia sadly misses key components with the important men in her life with which she attempts to replace, sometimes successfully, with her art. All in all, Vreeland's Artemesia is wrought with frustration and a bitter anger. True? I don't know. Anyone who created such beauty could not have been suffering so during that creative surge---perhaps afterwards. The author resolves this angst at the very end of the novel in a key scene invovling the artist and her father, but overall the reader does not get a real sense of satisfaction----instead one feels that the rushed ending should have been supplemented by some additional information where the fruits reaped by a mellower Artemesia are observed and nodded over.
I listened to the unabridged audio edition of this book so I have no idea if an appendix exists which sheds some light on what Artemisia did with the rest of her life once she had rectified her feelings of her anger towards her father as the author suggests. The audio version also contains some filler music used to punctuate particularly sad scenes which I thought unnecessary and a bit overdone.
This all said, I still liked the book and I recommend it to all who like novels about art and artists. Keep in mind however that the feminist tinge to the telling of this tale does not make it truly representative of the period and therefore suspends belief at times. I found myself wanting this modernly depicted Artemisia to have it out with her father, turn the page and get on with her life. Something tells me that in real life, this is exactly what she did do. However erroneously portrayed, Vreeland's character represents a strong woman with much angst on her plate whose life will keep you turning the pages and wanting to look up her lovely paintings to see what she really was all about.

Rating:
Summary: Passion is key!
Review: Everytime I read this book I want to pick up my brush and loose myself in painting as Vreeland describes Artemisia doing. This book is about that passion when one is driven by the smell of turpentine, the shimmering brilliance of color, and the image that slowly creeps upon the canvas.
If anyone wants a complete historical view of Artemisia then don't get a fictional story. Check out:www.artemisia-gentileschi.com/index.html. There are great sites and books to check her work. If you want to know about the passion that drives an artist, then loose yourself in this book and picture yourself at this time, doing what Artemisia did.
Thank Goodness I don't read a book with a red pen.

Rating:
Summary: enjoyable but loose with the facts
Review: I enjoyed the author's first novel and was interested in the artist Artemisia Gentileschi, so this seemed like a natural. I did enjoy the book but was distracted by how much the action deviated from what I actually knew about the artist's life. I think I might have enjoyed it more if it had been pure fiction instead of purportin to be about Artemisia.

That said, the novel itself is well written and enjoyable, delving into the psyche of the emotionally scarred artist as she explores artistic themes and tries to deal with the men in her life.

Not a stunner but perhaps an entertaining introduction to a fascinating artist.

Rating:
Summary: Passion without accuracy
Review: As a fan of Artemisia, I've been devouring books on her lately, trying to learn as much as I can about this fascinating woman. I admit this book is well-written but, to me, it reads like the author hoped it would be made into a movie. It was just a bit too "dramatic." The reason for this may be that there is little historical fact in it. If one compares it to the remarkably researched book by Alexandra Lapierre, who spent years digging through archives around Europe, one is left wondering where Vreeland got her data. Sure the book is exciting and more interesting than Lapierre's, which gets bogged down in places and leaves one longing for a bit less detail, but Vreeland's book should be classified as fiction and Lapierre's as biography. There's so much missing from Vreeland's book that I was dismayed and annoyed that she should assume such literary license with her subject, when so much documentation exists that she has ignored. If you read only one book on Artemisia, and really want to get to know her, this is NOT the book for you.

Rating:
Summary: You'll be passionate about this book
Review: I had studied Artemisia in a Women's Art History class in college, so I had some idea about her biography. And I think Vreeland did an amazing job of stringing out a believable tale of what her life was really like. This book really captured the essence of "Judith" and offered a believable account of what Artemisia must have been thinking when she painted it. It's the only Susan Vreeland book I've read (and the least known, unfortunately!), and I can't wait to read another! I couldn't put this one down!