Allegory of Inclination
Artemisia Gentileschi, 1615
Allegory of Inclination, painted by Artemisia Gentileschi around 1615-1616, shows a seated nude young woman among clouds, holding a compass while a star shines above her head. The figure stands for inclination, understood as a vocation or natural bent toward a particular art, and the compass and star point to that innate orientation. Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger, great-nephew of the famous sculptor, commissioned the work as part of a cycle honouring his great-uncle. Gentileschi worked alongside other painters to complete the series while she was recovering from the birth of her second child. Some facial features resemble the artist's self-portraits, so it has been suggested that she may have celebrated her own vocation through the figure, though this cannot be confirmed. The nudity proved uncomfortable for later owners, and in 1684 Baldassare Franceschini, known as il Volterrano, painted veils over it. The work has since been under restoration, with a digital reconstruction of the original version.
- Painter
- Artemisia Gentileschi
- Date
- 1615
- Medium
- oil paint, canvas
- Dimensions
- 152 × 61 cm
- Museum
- Casa Buonarroti
- Genre
- allegory, nude
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