No Woman Could Paint By John Ruskin

John Ruskin said, “I always said that no woman could paint.” This quote from John Ruskin is nonsense. If women can give birth and raise their children to live their own lives, women could do everything anyone else can. In this era, some of the most powerful positions in governments are being held by women. Maybe I have an untrained eye, but if no description for a work of an artist is provided, I would not be able to tell if a piece of art was created by a man or a woman. Art or all entertainment should be about the quality of a piece of work or performance, not on the background or influence of the person. Even if a person is raised as a child to be an artist, if one does not have talent and motivation one will not go far in the field. Not
everybody has an equal amount of talent and motivation. Just as not all men can paint, there are women who could paint. Skimming through the book one of the works during the Baroque era that caught my attention was Artemisia Gentileschi’s Judith Slaying Holofernes. This work of art is an illustration of two women killing a man in bed. This piece compels one to search for the story behind the action of these two women. Googling Judith Slaying Holofernes, provides different portrayals of this story from various artist. The one painted by Gentileschi stands out, this might be due to having a woman’s point of view. Allowing her to have a greater understanding of the motivation behind Judith’s behavior. Gentileschi’s work has all the indicators of Baroque art. We can see the intensity of the action as Judith starts to cut Holofernes’ head. As one observes the motion of the blood splattering towards Judith and trickles across and down the bed, it represents the exact instant the action takes place. There is plenty of energy and movement taking place as we see Holofernes fighting for his life against the maid, and how the maid assist Judith as she grabs hold of Holofernes’ head and uses a short sword to begin beheading Holofernes. Gentileschi takes advantage of the center of interest and focal point to attract observers to her work. The diagonals are represented by the arms, we also see crossing of the diagonals with Judith and Holofernes right arms. The colors of the blanket, sheets, bed, beddings, and Judith clothes are well incorporated and flourishes. The image from the book has solid black background which has an amazing effect on the lighting of the work. Having this background brings the action towards viewers. With the effect of light and the shadowing one assumes there is a candle on the left of Holofernes. Looking closer we notice that Judith is in an angle. This is due to Judith using her knee and body push down Holofernes and gain strength to behead him. One aspect that is missing from this piece is the realism of the human body is not as detailed as Caravaggio. Comparing Caravaggio's Judith Beheading Holofernes to Gentileschi’s the main difference is the details of the human body. In Gentileschi’s the majority of the body is smooth. Caravaggio’s has a superior grasp on the details of the human body, as we can recognize that the muscles and bones are well proportioned. The realism in the faces of all three characters are on display, the faces seems more like a photograph capturing a moment in time than a painting. The intensity displayed in Gentileschi’s representation has a higher allure to it. After googling Ruskin’s quote I know that he took back his statement, but even before that time period, there were plenty of works of art by women that provided a stunning display.