artemisia gentileschi was a trailblazing artist who challenged conventions and achieved success in 17th century europe. the italian painter is also regarded as one of the greatest storytellers of her time. now for the first time in the uk, a major exhibition of her works goes on show at the national gallery in london, as our arts editor will gompertz reports. meet artemisia gentileschi, who would be well over 400 years old now but was only in her early 20s when she painted this self—portrait as st catherine of alexandria. she was considered one of the greatest artists of her age in florence, revered by everybody, including the mighty medici. so she was incredibly successful incredibly early. but she had had the most terrible start to her career. artemisia gentileschi produced this painting

when she was still a teenager working on her father's studio in rome. it depicts the old testament story of the virtuous susanna having to endure the lecherous advances of two old men. unfortunately, artemisia had to put up with much worse. her father was working with an artist called agostino tassi, who assaulted artemisia. she fought back, and he raped her. it ended up in a very long trial, the transcript of which can be found over here. it describes how artemisia was tortured, herfingers were crushed, to ensure that she was telling the truth. "it's true, it's true, it's true," she said. tassi was eventually convicted. it would be too simplistic to say that the dramatic violent paintings she produced, such as this, judith beheading holofernes, were in direct response to her ordeal. but there is no doubt that artemisia gentileschi introduced a new female protagonist to painting — a powerful, independent,

determined woman. there are 29 paintings in this first ever exhibition of her work in the uk. it makes you wonder, why has it taken so long? artemisia is essentially a rediscovery of the 20th century, it was in the sort of feminist movement of the 1970s that she was really re—evaluated, and i think it'sjust taken her a long time to sort of come back into the art history books and to be recognised as one of the great painters of the italian baroque. the show ends in london, which is where she came to join her father, who was working in the court of charles i. it's where she painted this, what many consider to be her masterpiece. it's another self—portrait, but not dressing up as somebody else this time, but presenting herself to the world as herself — artemisia gentileschi, the painter. will gompertz, bbc news. that's it.

emily is here with newsnight in ten minutes. now the news where you are. good evening, i'm asad ahmad. tonight a special report on ‘county lines‘. it's when organised criminal gangs groom mainly young people to deliver drugs to areas outside london. it's been found that during lockdown, when demand was said to be "very high", dealers disguised themselves as key workers to avoid detection. thousands are thought to have been recruited to supply drugs to dozens of areas around the country, with a key route being

hello to viewers in the uk joining those around the world. it's now time for us to take a first look at the national and international front pages in the papers. hello, and welcome to our look ahead to what some of the papers will be bringing us tomorrow. with me are political strategist jo tanner, and author and journalist, rachel shabi. thank you both forjoining us on wednesday evening. let's start with the daily telegraph. it says the uk prime minister has defied calls for an easing of covid restrictions,

insisting that the only way to tackle the virus is to maintain a tough stance. "we're going in the wrong direction!", says the express, quoting england's chief medical 0fficer, professor chris whitty, who warned in a news conference that it's going to be a long winter ahead. the figaro reports that as coronavirus cases continue to climb in france, the government there faces difficult choices. the guardian says it has seen documents that suggest downing street is considering sending asylum seekers to moldova, morocco, or papua new guinea. the international version of the financial times reports that germany is to exclude the chinese company, huawei, from its 5g buildout. the mirror asks when borisjohnson‘s father is getting fined — after stanley johnson was seen shopping without a mask. and the new york times reveals how an italian warship — sent to intercept migrants from libya — was smuggling

contra band to europe. so that some of the papers that we already have. let's begin, lovely to have you both with us. we start with the daily telegraph, and a lot of papers are focusing on the lockdown, borisjohnson papers are focusing on the lockdown, boris johnson today papers are focusing on the lockdown, borisjohnson today being grilled at pmqs, rachel, but also we had this downing street press conference, reminding us of the days of the lockdown. but we heard in their —— him they're talking about this being a critical moment, the scientist saying we can't be complacent, and the prime minister saying there's only one way of doing this, we all have to get in there together. that's right, that's the gist of what he was saying this afternoon. the telegraph is reporting that is him facing down the opponents inside his own cabinet and his own

government. they mentioned rishi sunak, who just the other beak was talking about us having to live with the fear of the virus —— the other week. so this was a come back to that. and the other people inside the prime minister's ——cabinet—— who don't want more lockdown measures and bristle at the ones that are currently in place. so this is being reported by the telegraph as the prime minister really facing that down and saying, "these measures are necessary and more measures might be necessary and more measures might be necessary in the future." and when it comes to the measures themselves, there was a bit of confusion as to what, where specifically, with the prime minister even being apologetic after becoming confused about what's happening in the northeast. it's been ofa

happening in the northeast. it's been of a shambles, really, this week. there was a government minister who was doing a broadcast round yesterday morning and he was unable to answer, being a southern mp, she didn't have the full mp about —— in detail about what was going on in the new lockdown areas. the prime minister then also managed to mess it up, but then also conducted a visit where he failed to observe any of the covert secure approaches that we've now seen. and this is part of a challenge that the government have got, as the rules are changing. they are now seven variations across the uk, which is not making life very easy. across the telegraph, they have a picture of the speaker of the house of commons, lindsay doyle, presiding over proceedings where the prime minister is at the dispatch box, having to talk again to mp5 — this was a day where mps were effectively

forced through for the government to come make national changes. the health secretary said there was a concession from government that they would allow mps to vote. there is a general split now, as well as in the public — even if some people do observe the rules, often you get on a train ora observe the rules, often you get on a train or a restaurant and see that people aren't wearing their masks properly. there is general frustration about the way forward, but this is also compounded with the flu season starting and schools being back, students mixing. there isa being back, students mixing. there is a general fear about where these numbers are going, and that was clear from the prime minister's press conference. let's focus on the uk aspect of it in the next edition of the papers in half an hour's time. but i want to move onto of our international papers, because france's situation is also complicated, and the headline there

is that the government is at this hour facing difficult choices and possibly paris and other metropolitan areas are facing the kind of restrictions that we saw in marseilles. it's facing difficult decisions, as are so many other countries going into the second wave in the winter months. france has had an infection, the number of cases has shot up in the last few days, and the number of people hospitalized as well. so they fear that the second wave is arriving faster than they anticipated, which of course is what happens with this virus because it's an exponential growth, so the doubling gets out of control very quickly, and that's what the french officials are concerned about now. and there are parts of france that have lockdown

measures in places, on closures on restau ra nts a nd measures in places, on closures on restaurants and bars, and they're looking at whether they need to spread that beyond. but there was an interesting piece in the lancet a few days ago, and it was an international comparative of countries in pan asia and europe looking at what works and what doesn't, and what can be learned. and they draw out various things that countries that managed the virus, particularly other countries that had done well — and they signal out things like trust, having a long—term strategy, a robust test and trace system in place, and having a robust public health system to begin with. so it's interesting to begin with. so it's interesting to see that international comparison - i think to see that international comparison — i think that's the first time that sort of analysis has been put

together. that's interesting, i was talking to a psychologist earlier who was saying that clarity and messaging will bring the public with what the government wants it to do, regardless of which other good —— which ever government. touching on the i now, this is something you are focusing on, going back to the situation in england and across the different nations of the uk. you touched upon these different versions of lockdown rules depending on where you live — at least seven different versions, says the i, and a bit ofa different versions, says the i, and a bit of a scoop when it comes to the i because it talks about more regular briefings, the paper has learned? yes, the prime minister alluded to it in the press co nfe re nce alluded to it in the press conference today, saying having more of these events, and the i have confirmed that the press conferences are back. in addition to that, the idea of moving to three levels of

lockdown. at the moment it's very complex because of the way different things have been brought in different parts of the uk. there is a challenge there because we've got other governments, other different medical advisers in different parts of the country, although they were together, and there is always an interpretation of the advice that's given and the data put forward, we've seen nicola sturgeon an example going ahead sometimes of where the uk government have been. so this is really a step toward starting to simplify that process. there's already been, the standard in london is reporting that the london mayor was looking at what could be done with regards to parts of the capital. so there's a general feeling that we've sort of taken people on a journey in march. and even then, it was complicated. but the more nuanced things get, the

more that people have already done to her always got the question, "does the rule of six apply to my children? what about outside and of inside?" there's always rules. this next step from the government appears to be a way to start to simple playthings. we were told the rule of six was going to do that, and the prime minister got it wrong already this week. sol and the prime minister got it wrong already this week. so i remain somewhat sceptical, but the i's front page shows that's the first move the government needs to make. so we will see how easy it is for people to understand. one rule when it comes to facemasks — is that easier? because we are looking at the daily mirror, which has boris johnson's father in a shop in central london without a mask. it is the facemask pretty straightforward to understand? i think it is pretty straightforward to understand. it's something that has a lot of public

buy—in. it's that thing about getting into the habit of taking one out with you, of course. and i've taken to putting a stash of disposable ones in my bag just in case i haven't got the washable, reusable ones. but i do think when the prime minister's father is caught that way — we do need to see some consequences of that. we can't have the prime minister saying there will be fines for not complying with the laws, "except for my dad." we need some consistency in this, otherwise there will be a lack of public trust in the unity and the goodwill, and the cohesion that we need to get through the next few months. but it's not the first time that stanley johnson has months. but it's not the first time that stanleyjohnson has not gone with the rules that the rest of the country has been proposed or been told to do. just thinking about his

trip to