Joy McCullough's 'Blood Water Paint' Novelizes Artemisia Gentileschi's Rape Trial

Joy McCullough's novel-in-verse 'Blood Water Paint' adapts the 300-page transcript of Artemisia Gentileschi's 1612 rape trial against her painting master Agostino Tassi. The book reinterprets the historical events, omitting Gentileschi's initial willingness to marry her rapist—a common practice at the time—to align with modern sensibilities. McCullough chose verse to make the traumatic story less painful to read and write. The novel highlights how Gentileschi channeled her trauma into paintings of biblical heroines like Susanna and Judith, which became symbols of female defiance. The trial, initiated by her father Orazio Gentileschi for 'damage to property,' subjected Artemisia to physical examinations and thumb-screws to verify her testimony, while Tassi faced no similar treatment. McCullough's work emphasizes the power of these apocryphal stories that were removed from the Bible during the Reformation.