GENTILESCHI, FAMIGLIA. — ORAZIO LOMI, called G., painter, b. in Pisa in 1562 (?), d. in London in 1647 (or 1638). In Tuscany he was a pupil of his half-brother Aurelio Lomi and of other Mannerists.
The G. put this Mannerist and Florentine education to good use when, at the age of 17, he came to Rome, where he worked in fresco at S. Giovanni Laterano, S. Maria Maggiore, and the Library of Sixtus V in the Vatican. In Rome he subsequently developed his own style, originally interpreting works from Caravaggio’s early period without violent contrasts of light and shadow; rather, he heightened the precious quality of colour through the play of light on crisp fabrics and translucent cloths, in a clear, draughtsmanlike vision of Tuscan derivation. At the same time, he made practical use of his contacts with other Caravaggisti, such as Saraceni and Adamo Elshcimer, but he also collaborated with Agostino Tassi. After 1615 the G. worked in the Marches, achieving effects of movement and compositional complexity, at times cumbersome (Madonna del Rosario, Fabriano, S. Domenico), at times candid and simple (Vergine e s. Chiara, Fabriano, Casa Rosei). In 1621 the G. was in Genoa, where he worked and met Van Dyck. He then went to France (Riposo in Egitto, in the Louvre), in the service of Maria de' Medici; and finally (1626) to England, to the court of Charles I (Riposo in Egitto, Hampton Court; Loth e le figlie, Bilbao, Museo; Ritrovamento di Mosè, Howard Castle). During the English period his chromatic variety diminished, but the G.’s singular naturalism became more complex, his works incorporating accents of a restrained yet concrete pathos. The G. had two painter children: FRANCESCO and ARTEMISIA. The latter, b. in Rome in 1597, d. in Naples after 1651, was an excellent painter. A pupil of her father and of Agostino Tassi, she later married a certain Pierantonio Schiattesi. Effects of plastic robustness and emotional and naturalistic intensity distinguish the works of Artemisia G. from her father’s paintings. The painting Due donne allo specchio (Berlin, Museo) is very close to Orazio; but the following paintings by Artemisia G. should be recalled: Giuditta con la testa d'Oloferne (Florence, Galleria Pitti); Maddalena contrita (ibid.); Giuditta uccide Oloferne (Florence, Uffizi).
Artemisia influenced the Neapolitan school, particularly Stanzioni.