A Portrait in Shadow

January 30, 2023
Jarvis (The Lights of Prague) centers her belabored second fantasy on historical 17th-century artist Artemisia Gentileschi. The magical conceit is familiar but fascinating: artists enact healing magic by painting their essence into their works. Artemisia herself, however—alone in Florence after her painting tutor raped her and struggling to make her way as a “true painter”—disappoints. Rarely does Jarvis engage with the complexities of the actual Artemisia, paring away events like the painter’s marriage in an apparent attempt to make her story fit more neatly into a #MeToo framework. The resulting character study marinates in Artemisia’s fury against the men who have hurt her and despair when other men are slow to save her—among them Stefano Silvestrini, her first regular patron; Galileo Galilei, an avuncular role model; and eventually the merchant Francesco Maria Maringhi, who becomes both patron and lover—until she’s forced to choose between art and revenge. While Jarvis’s descriptive skill is undeniable, even the lush evocations of Florence come across as jarringly modern. Jarvis succeeds in finding resonance between Artemisia’s story and the modern era, but this simplified reenvisioning is like swapping a portrait for a paper doll.