'Incredibly violent' paintings to go on show in National Gallery's Artemisia Gentileschi exhibition

A pair of “incredibly violent” masterpieces will go on show in a new exhibition celebrating the art of a “17th-century feminist”.

The National Gallery has gathered 29 paintings by Artemisia Gentileschi for the first major show in the UK dedicated to the pioneering Italian woman artist.

It includes two gruesome portrayals of the biblical story of Judith beheading the Assyrian general Holofernes as her servant holds him down. Curator Letizia Treves said: “No other artist, male or female, paints that with such violence. It is an incredibly violent work ... but there is a truthfulness about it.”

Born in Rome, Gentileschi counted the Grand Duke of Tuscany and King Philip IV among her clients and carved out her own career when women artists were often relegated to portrait painting.

She was the first woman to gain membership to the artists’ academy in Florence, but for years her reputation was overshadowed by a rape ordeal at the hands of another painter aged 18. Some critics suggest her imagery was influenced by the attack, but Ms Treves said she had other traumas including the death of her mother when she was young and the death of four of her children.

“She led a very traumatic life but I hope this shows a much more rounded woman, a very ambitious and driven woman. She is incredibly bold, she is a 17th-century feminist really, she wants to be considered like a male artist.” The show also includes a series of recently discovered love letters and her first signed and dated work, Susannah And The Elders from 1610, and her last known painting which was on the same subject 42 years later.

It comes after the gallery bought her work, Self Portrait As Saint Catherine Of Alexandria. Ms Treves said: “Artemisia is an inspirational figure of resilience and unbowed creativity in the face of exceptionally challenging odds.”

The show opens on April 4 and runs until July 26