Last week, an article on the first page of the New York Times announced that Michelangelo is out and Caravaggio is in. Of course, we don’t have to read it to know that Michelangelo will never be out, but the idea that Caravaggio is in is great news. I am weary of blank looks when I mention his name. And I am encouraged that if Caravaggio is in, maybe Artemisia Gentileschi is not far behind. I let her write her memoir in my Daughters of Eve, a Herstory Book and she expressed her admiration for Caravaggio and admitted his influence on her work. She swore to paint women the way he painted men. She did, but only after she was raped. Does it take a great jolt to make a woman go in search of what she can be? To make her reach heights otherwise never considered?
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