Artemisia's Strong Women: Rescuing a Masterpiece
Exhibition

Lucretia (detail), about 1627, Artemisia Gentileschi. Oil on canvas. Getty Museum
In 2020, a massive explosion in the port of Beirut devastated the city. Among the wreckage was a previously unknown painting by Artemisia Gentileschi, the most celebrated woman painter of 17th-century Italy. Depicting a scene from the Greek myth of Hercules, the severely damaged painting came to Getty for in-depth conservation treatment. In an installation focused on its repair, the restored painting is accompanied by four of Gentileschi’s other paintings, highlighting her special focus on donne forti (strong women) from the classical and biblical traditions.