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Russ Hunt

I thought I'd check the obvious source and report what I found just as a way of showing how a wiki entry might look. I checked "Sally Clark" in Wikipedia, and after identifying the right one, found a quick bio -- she arrived in Toronto in 1973 and has worked with a number of theatre companies there, including Theatre Passe Muraille and the Shaw Festival. The wikipedia article is just a "stub" (maybe we could edit it after we've done the work?), but it suggests looking at the [|Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia] and [|The Playwrights Database] for further material. Wikipedia also lists a number of plays, but I'm not sure it's all of them.

Also, if you Google Artemesia Gentileschi you find not only a wikipedia entry, but an ambitious Web site called "[|The Life and Art of Artemisia Gentileschi,]" which you wouldn't want to quote but looks like a great starting point for finding out more about her. I've linked it. If offers this bibliography:
 * 1) Garrard, Mary D. 1989. Artemisia Gentileschi - The Image of The Female Hero in Italian Baroque Art. Princeton University Press.
 * 2) Garrard, Mary D. 1993. [|Artemisia Gentileschi.] Rizzoli Publications Inc., New York.
 * 3) Alexandra Lapierre, 1998 (translated by Liz Heron, 2000), [|Artemisia - a novel], Grove Press, New York.
 * 4) Bissell, R. Ward, 1999. Artemisia Gentileschi and the Authority of Art. The Pennsylvania State University Press.
 * 5) Garrard, Mary D. 2001. [|Artemisia Gentileschi around 1622: The Shaping and Reshaping of an Artistic Identity.] Discovery Arts Series, University of California Press.
 * 6) Vreeland, Susan 2002 The Passion of Artemisia Headline Book Publishing.

Kylee French

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=4&hid=103&sid=9b68af26-d63b-416a-a6cd-e801ab2ab846%40sessionmgr104

I sort of just searched and hoped for the best. I found quite a bit about Aretmisia's life and a bit about the historical accuracy of some of the characters in the play. Hopefully this is helpful. I also found some information about Sally Clark, but not much within the sources I used.

-She was a highly popular and successful Italian Baroque painter. She was essentially written out of art history until scholars rediscovered her in the 1970s. After the rape trial, she married Pierantonio Stiatessi, moved to Florence, had four children and continued to paint, collecting commission for her work. She also became friends with Galileo. She eventually separated from her husband and continued to support her children by her own means. She moved to Naples, and eventually travelled to London to help her ailing father. Afterward, she returned to Naples and lived there until her death. -Her paintings have been interpreted as autobiographical. -Most of the things written about her are historically accurate. She was sheltered by her father, raped by Agostino Tassi, and there was a rape trial. Her painting, Judith and Holofrenes, exists. -Orazio, Tassi, and Artemisia all appear to be historically accurate. Orazio did press charges against Tassi, and Tassi denied the charges. He did, however, get convicted, but was released after another lengthy trial. Judith and Holofrenes are also based on biblical stories, and I can’t seem to find much else about any of the other characters historically. -Sally Clark was a trained painter before she turned to writing. -Sally Clark was influenced to write the play because of these two novels written about Artemisia and her life: “The Obstacle Race” by Germaine Greer (1979) and “Artemisia Gentileschi: The Image of the Female Hero in Baroque Art” by Mary Gerrard (1989).

Laurie MacKenzie

I've been noticing that multiple spellings of some of the names have been popping up everywhere, making it rather frustrating to find information (Artemisia Vs. Artemesia, for example).

[|This] article discusses some criticisms of Artemesia as both a historical figure and her role as a female Italian painter. I thought that it might be interesting to look at because one section of the article looks at her transition from a character on the pages of history to a character on the stage. Though the play is based on fact, the author points to a few discrepancies between art and history. In Sally Clark’s courtroom scene, she describes Agostino Tassi as being tortured, as well as Artemesia, when he was, in fact, not. At the time, the judges felt that they needed to use the torture devices only to verify that the plaintiff’s story could hold up under pressure. The author describes it as such: "In the courtroom Artemisia claimed consistently, even under torture, that Agostino Tassi had raped and deflowered her, while Tassi-never subjected to torture-used a defensive strategy that suspected rapists have successfully employed throughout the centuries, denying all charges and casting doubts on Artemisia's sexual conduct."

The painting [|"Susannah and the Elders"] perhaps one of Artemesia Gentileschi’s most famous paintings, it is Gentileschi’s take on the biblical story of [|Susanna], Joacim of Babylon’s wife, from the Book of Daniel. She was approached one day whilst walking in the garden by two lusty elders who accuse her of public adultery when she refuses their proposals. She is found guilty and sentenced to execution, until the titular character, Daniel, cleverly exposes the lies of the elders. Susanna is justified and the elders are put to death. Many journal articles that I’ve read claim that this painting is an embodiment of Artemesia’s feelings toward Agostino Tassi, who took advantage of her.

Marriage by capture. A very interesting concept. And one for which I have been unable to find any set definition. I have, however, found several [|examples] such as the following: In Eastern Indonesia, there was a practice that, if a man decided that he wanted to marry a certain woman and encountered resistance to his proposal, he would prepare a hiding place in his home, kidnap the woman, and bring her to this place. He and his friends would fend off the relatives of the captured bride-to-be, and once the riot had quieted down, negotiations for marriage could begin. This is no longer legal. That is only one example. Marriage by capture, or bride kidnapping, is a practice that has occurred across the globe. In some areas it was a type of marriage rite while in others it served more as a sort of elopement. Basically, it seems to me that Marriage by Capture is a strategy employed by one who wishes to be married, but meets resistance from the other party, and so the first party kidnaps or forces the second party into some kind of situation from which they can no longer easily reject a marriage proposal. Sorry if that was confusing.

Josh Underhill

I happened to find some information about Caravaggio. I googled his name and found that he had a website [|here] that had a fair amount of information about his life and including a gallery of some of his paintings. I found a link within the site where peers and others write about Caravaggio. Here are some of the highlight points I managed to find about Caravaggio:

-It was Caravaggio who among all the Italians first gave up the customary Mannerism and took up the study of nature. -He wanted to make every brush stroke from life and he therefore placed people in his room room and tried to copy them to every detail. -He despised anything that was not done from life calling it bagatelles child's play and rustic work because nothing could be better than the closest imitation of nature. -Although his art gained him great fame and was praised highly by all and sundry it was nevertheless very difficult to get along with him. -He criticized other peoples works and openly looked to fight. -Caravaggio said that it was as difficult for him to make a good painting of flowers as one of figures. -Caravaggio's practice of incising lines in the preparation of his pictures, possibly with a stylus or other pointed instrument, is a well-known phenomenon -The first, and chronologically the earlier, picture is the Judith and Holofernes, perhaps painted just prior to the commission for the lateral canvases in the Contarelli Chapel. Incised lines define the position of Judith's left arm (the position of the arm was lowered somewhat in the finished state) as well as her shoulder. A pair of intersecting lines to the right of her elbow seems to have been intended as an indication for the placement of the rolled-up sleeve.

The most interesting point I found about was that Caravaggio liked to fight and was very had to get along with. From reading the play we know that Orazio has a deep resentment for Caravaggio and the fact that he was hard to get along with offers some insight into Orazio disliking of him. Also, the fact that he painted Judith and Holofernes may be the reason that the biblical story appears in the play. We know that Artemesia wants to study with Caravaggio and his work could have had influence on why she has a fascination with the story if Judith.

although i took a few tidbits from a few articles on the site, there was one article that was outstanding from the others. [|here]

Research on Life Without Instruction  __ Jessica Davidson __  __ Posted January 25, 2010 __

__ Are the characters based on historical people? __

Who is Artemesia, historically? __ What's the biblical story of Judith? Are the characters in this play portrayed accurately? __

__ The previous questions were answered already and I don't find them interesting enough to expend time on researching them further. __

__ I will focus instead on the various productions of the play that have been performed since it was written. The questions I will center my responses around are: __ __ How were taboo topics received by other audiences? What are the reviews for this play like? Where has this play been performed? Was this written for a specific festival or event? __

__ The current body of work that Artemisia Gentileschi’s life has inspired: __ __ “The life of Artemisia Gentileschi will continue to be fictionalized until the last syllable of recorded time. There now exist at least a dozen literary and dramatic re-creations of Artemisia's life; cumulatively, they outweigh the historical record itself. Among the most prominent are Anna Banti's Italian novel of 1953 (English translation, 1988), Agnes Merlet's film of 1998 and now Alexandra Lapierre's biographical novel, published in French." __ __ Found online at: ____ http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-69058337.html __

__ A footnote in a __ book Sally Clark’s relationship with Nightwood Theatre Company based in Toronto: __ Sally Clark is a good example of someone who furthered her development through Nightwood. Life Without Instruction had a long but ultimately unfruitful history with the company; Nightwood had originally sponsored Sally Clark’s application for funding to work on The Medea Project, a piece about women and revenge, which she was proposing for eventual production by Nightwood. This became Life Without Instruction, but Clark chose not to have Nightwood produce the show. Clark also developed another of her plays, St. Frances of Hollywood, at “Groundswell,” but had it produced by the Canadian Stage Company in 1996. __ __ Found online at: ____ http://www.aupress.ca/books/120168/ebook/99B_Shelley_Scott_2010-Nightwood_Theatre.pdf __

__ Sherrill Grace of the University of British Columbia makes several c ____ omments on the Frederic Wood Theatre production of ____ Life Without Instruction ____ : __ __ “ ____ Revival of interest in Gentileschi, no matter what form that it takes, turns on the rape trial and on these paintings, and in each fictional creation of the artist's life differing emphases and interpretations are given to these dramatic events and hence to her great works. To date, the works inspired by her story include four novels and four plays (one of which is Sally Clark's ____ Life Without Instruction ____ ) in English, one feature film, and two television pieces. ____ ” __

__ "Artemisia Gentileschi’s work is widely “interpreted as direct reflections of her personal experiences, with the inevitable implications that she could not have painted them if she had not actually experienced harassment, betrayal, torture, and rape, and that the power of her best work derives from some essential (hence essentialist) femaleness, where to be female is to be defined by one's body (including one's sexuality), by what is done to that body by men and by one's feminine passions. ____ ” __ __ “Clark's play moves beyond what Pollock calls "a woman wronged" to suggest a more complex figure of the woman artist with, as Spear notes, "the talent and guts" to succeed in a male worl ____ d.” __ __ “By reading Clark's play through Gentileschi's painting, I want to explore how the play signifies, what choices Clark has made in creating her artist, what a production can reveal, and thus what this play about a seventeenth century artist can say to us in the early twenty-first century ____ ” __ __ Art, Clark seems to be saying, __ //is an // act of revenge on the mentors and on the tradition in which the artist must train and work. __ " __

__ The 29 September to 9 October 1999 production at the Frederic Wood Theatre of the University of British Columbia, directed by Robert Metcalfe, with sets by Ron Fedoruk, lighting by Sharon Huizinga, and costumes by Sheila White. The play premiered at Theatre Plus Toronto on 2 August 1991 under the direction of Glynis Leyshon, with set and costumes by Phillip Clarkson. __ __ In the 1999 Frederic Wood production, the set involved actual (or what appeared to be actual) easel paintings; slides were ____ not ____ used. The final scene captured a dramatic chiaroscuro lighting effect but in a more literal, natural-seeming, and painterly manner than might have been achieved with the mechanics of slide projection. In this production the audience __ was presented with a powerful tableau that recapitulated, while it mirrored and distorted, the triadic structure of the biblical Judith story, of Gentileschi's painting, and of Clark's retelling of the stories (both Judith's and Artemisia's). In other words, the staging of this scene exploited the mirror trope running through the play by repeating it in visually interesting ways.

__ Found online at: ____ http://www.lib.unb.ca/Texts/TRIC/bin/get9.cgi?directory=vol25_1_2/&filename=grace.htm __

__ Theatre UNB- director Len Falkenstein __ __ WHY do the play? To bring attention to the ongoing oppression of women in the patriarchal society currently existing today. ____ "The play is running in conjunction with the UNB Art Centre’s current exhibit, The Silent Witness Project, which focuses on sexuality and domestic violence. A panel discussion following the performance on Friday, Jan. 29, will explore links between the play and the exhibit." __ __ Found online at: ____ http://nbmediacoop.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=786:theatre-unb-presents-life-without-instruction-jan-27-30&catid=60:theatre&Itemid=181 __

__ Artemisia (1997) The FILM __ __ http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0123385/ __ __ This website has comments by people who have seen the movie and been compelled enough by it to write reviews- also details the structure and format of the movie- it is possible to get a feel for it __ needing to watch the film itself.  __ Several newspaper articles about the film __ based on Artemisia Gentileschi’s life. Note- these cannot be accessed in full as a membership fee must be paid: __ Director Agnes Merlet defends her film version __ __ http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1P2-4984415.html __ __ Triumph in the name of `Artemisia' __

The Boston Globe (Boston, MA) | May 15, 1998 | Jay Carr, Globe Staff | __ Artemisia. __ __ Art in America | October 1, 1998 | Garrard, Mary D. __ __ Vivid `Artemisia' blends art history, sex scandal.(Metropolitan Times)(Arts & Entertainment)(Movies) The Washington Times (Washington, DC) | May 15, 1998 | Arnold, Gary __ __ "My Heart Belongs to Daddy": The Fictionalization of Baroque Artists Artemisia Gentileschi in Contemporary Film and Novels Literature/Film Quarterly | July 1, 2006 | Lent, Tina Olsin __ __ FINE RENAISSANCE MOOD CAN'T SAVE 'ARTEMISIA" Post-Tribune (IN) | May 15, 1998 __ __ Artemesia (2000) Pornographic retelling of same (fictionalized) story __ __ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0281608/ __

__ As a side note, "marriage by capture" is a phrase used as a joke and is not an idiom nor does it have a historical definition. It is a made up term by the author. The C in capture is not meant to be captialized. The phrase is to be understood literally; Artemesia has used her skill and wit in tricking Tassio. A similar situation is in the story about Theseus' war on the matriachical Amazons and his dominance of Hippolyta, __ their queen.

Michael Woodside

Who is Holofernes?

In the book of Judith, Holofernes is an invading general of Nebuchadnezzar. When Holofernes was dispatched to siege Bethulia, the town surrendered without resistance. While he was drunk, a Hebrew widow named Judith entered his camp and seduced him. Judith beheaded Holofernes, returned to Bethulia with his head and the Hebrews defeated the invading army.

Hicks claims the book of Judith to be problematic since the writer takes great liberty with facts. Both time and place yield to the narrative and famous names are mingled together in an almost contradictory way. The book is written in a romantic way instead of being based on any history. The imagery of Holofernes's severed head evoking enough morale to sway the Hebrews to defeat their persecutors is something that Hicks describes as a "historical romance." Many of the places referenced in the parable are generally considered to be fictional. Although the book of Judith is not considered an explicit part of the Jewish canon,it is suggested that the book of Judith was one of the first parables or historic novels recorded.

The book of Judith does not exist in the Hebrew Bible, it is also excluded from the Protestant Canon of Holy Scripture and by Pharisaic-Rabbinical Jews. Catholics with very few exceptions accept the book of Judith as a narrative of facts, not as an allegory.

Catholic Encyclopedia http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08554a.htm

Judith and Holofernes E. L. Hicks The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. 6, (1885), pp. 261-274 Published by: The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/623401

Lieneke

I looked up about Artemisia and Caravaggio.

Artemisia was born July 8th, 1653 the first child of Orazio Gentileschi who was a Tuscan painter. Out of all her brothers, only Artemisia showed any promising talent. She painted her famous painting of "Susannah and the Elders" when she was 17. In 1611 she was sent to study under the landscape painter Augostino Tassi who, assisted bu Cosimo Quorlis, raped her. She took him to court in 1612 and the trial lasted seven months. Artemisia was tortured to tell the truth, and Tassi was eventually sentenced to prison and a five year exile from Rome. He ended up only serving a one year prison sentence. Artemisia married Pierantonio Stiattesi and together they had five children, four boys and one girl, Prudenzia. Prudenzia was the only child to survive into adulthood. Artemisia was the first female to become a member of the prestigious Academia di Arte del Disegno. She was also one of the first female painters to paint both historical and biblical depictions. Unlike most of her male counterparts, Artemisia's religious paintings featured many biblical female heriones. She most likely died sometime in 1656. around the time that the plague was sweeping across Europe.

Caravaggio was born September 29, 1571. Although he was well respected as a painter and commissioned for many incredible religious works, he thought highly of himself, and often picked fights. In 1606 Caravaggio accidentially killed a young man in a brawl. With a price on his head, he fled to Malta, where he still was regularly commissioned for work. He died of a fever July 18, 1610.

The book of Judith is not included in most Bibles. It is part of the Deuterocanonical books, which are books that were not included in the Torah (Old Testament). These books are only observed by some Catholics, Eastern Orthadox, and Oriental Orthadox religions.