Artemisia Gentileschi's Florentine Years Celebrated at Musée des Innocents, Florence

The Musée des Innocents in Florence is hosting an exhibition dedicated to the Florentine period of Artemisia Gentileschi, widely considered the most productive phase of her career, during which she painted for the Medici. Gentileschi arrived in Florence in 1613 at the age of twenty, following a rape trial whose court records were read throughout Italy. Three years later, she became the first woman admitted to the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno. The exhibition focuses on these years, when Gentileschi worked under Medici patronage, ran her own workshop, and learned to read and write. Her heroines are depicted with washerwoman's forearms and blades that carry their full weight. The raking light in her work derives from Caravaggio, and two of his paintings accompany the exhibition route. The show runs at the Musée des Innocents in Florence, Italy, from October 21, 2026, to April 4, 2027.