tassi was eventually convicted.t 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,