Susanna Beauty

Beauty is defined in the Oxford dictionary as; “A combination of qualities, such as shape, colour, or form, that pleases the aesthetic senses, especially the sight” . An ideal is; “a person or thing regarded as perfect”, or “a standard or principle to be aimed at”. It can represent “an abstract or hypothetical optimum”, “existing only in the imagination; desirable or perfect but not likely to become a reality” . The concept of “ideal beauty” we can then surmise, is an abstract, unattainable perfection. A theoretical flawlessness, that does not exist in actuality, but is pure fantasy. It is a culturally defined peak of perfection.

Focusing on artistic representations of women throughout history, it can be observed that the ideal of feminine
If you look at her right hand, it is gripping the face of one of her supposed tormentors; the shape of her fingers would suggest tension and force, however, her facial expression appears unsure and even curious. She appears to be listening and almost receptive to what he is saying. Taking these factors into consideration it is very easy to interpret that hand gesture as a loving caress. This interpretation is reinforced by her apparent indifference to the other elder’s advances. His face is nestled in her belly, one hand around her waist and the other groping out of sight, somewhere between her legs. This does not look like a woman who is overly troubled or repulsed by these men’s advances. Quite to the contrary, she appears to be encouraging the physical contact, her hands on them as much as theirs are on
It is interesting to note that at the time this was painted, Artemisia Gentileschi was just seventeen years old, and was enduring sexual harassment from the artist she was apprenticed to, a man named Agostino Tassi, who later raped her. These incidents gave Gentileschi incredible insight into her subject’s experience and thus she was able to create an interpretation that was uniquely perceptive and candid. Artemisia Gentileschi, however, was a woman, and the talent and creativity she possessed was thought to be an exclusively male attribute. Thus, despite success in her own time, she “suffered a scholarly neglect that is almost unthinkable for an artist of her caliber” Many of her works being only recently attributed to her, instead of her male