GETTY IMAGES
confirmed: “I never had any sexual relations
with any other person besides the said
Agostino. It is true that Cosimo [a friend of
Agostino] made all sorts of efforts to have
me... but never did I consent.”
Agostino and Cosimo had made the
mistake of boasting about their pursuit of
Artemisia to another man, Giovanni Battista
Stiattesi, who now gave evidence against
them. Stiattesi had other details to add, too,
not least that Agostino was already married,
had run off with his sister-in-law (technically
incest, for which he had served time in jail),
and had then hired contract killers to murder
his wife. None of this endeared Tassi to the
judges, who found against him. However, heseems to have served only eight months in
prison before the case was dismissed.Inclined to marry
Later the same year, Artemisia married
Pierantonio Stiattesi, probably a relative of
that key witness, a move that helped mend
her reputation. He was a citizen of Florence,
where the couple relocated early in 1613.
Artemisia’s dowry was probably invested in
their business, to which Pierantonio brought
useful city contacts. Within two years
Artemisia had been commissioned to pro-
duce three paintings for Cosimo II de’
Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. She then
went on to paint an Allegory of Inclination for →the Casa Buonarroti, the house being estab-
lished by Michelangelo’s great-nephew to
commemorate his celebrated relative.
Artemisia’s Florentine years were a whirl
of work, child-bearing and financial juggling.
In the course of seven years she had at least
four – probably five – children. In Florence
she became acquainted with the astronomer
Galileo Galilei, who had recently published
his groundbreaking treatise The Starry
Messenger, and in 1616 she was the first
female artist to become a member of the
Florentine Academy, the Accademia delle
Arti del Disegno. In 1618, she also embarked
on a four-year affair with nobleman Frances-
co Maria Maringhi, a part of her story only
GETTY IMAGES
confirmed: “I never had any sexual relations
with any other person besides the said
Agostino. It is true that Cosimo [a friend of
Agostino] made all sorts of efforts to have
me... but never did I consent.”
Agostino and Cosimo had made the
mistake of boasting about their pursuit of
Artemisia to another man, Giovanni Battista
Stiattesi, who now gave evidence against
them. Stiattesi had other details to add, too,
not least that Agostino was already married,
had run off with his sister-in-law (technically
incest, for which he had served time in jail),
and had then hired contract killers to murder
his wife. None of this endeared Tassi to the
judges, who found against him. However, heseems to have served only eight months in
prison before the case was dismissed.Inclined to marry
Later the same year, Artemisia married
Pierantonio Stiattesi, probably a relative of
that key witness, a move that helped mend
her reputation. He was a citizen of Florence,
where the couple relocated early in 1613.
Artemisia’s dowry was probably invested in
their business, to which Pierantonio brought
useful city contacts. Within two years
Artemisia had been commissioned to pro-
duce three paintings for Cosimo II de’
Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. She then
went on to paint an Allegory of Inclination for →the Casa Buonarroti, the house being estab-
lished by Michelangelo’s great-nephew to
commemorate his celebrated relative.
Artemisia’s Florentine years were a whirl
of work, child-bearing and financial juggling.
In the course of seven years she had at least
four – probably five – children. In Florence
she became acquainted with the astronomer
Galileo Galilei, who had recently published
his groundbreaking treatise The Starry
Messenger, and in 1616 she was the first
female artist to become a member of the
Florentine Academy, the Accademia delle
Arti del Disegno. In 1618, she also embarked
on a four-year affair with nobleman Frances-
co Maria Maringhi, a part of her story only