Aurora | |
---|---|
Artist | Artemisia Gentileschi |
Year | c.1625-1627 |
Medium | Oil on canvas |
Dimensions | 218 cm × 146 cm (86 in × 57 in) |
Location | Private collection, Rome |
Aurora is a c.1625-1627 painting by the Italian artist Artemisia Gentileschi, depicting the Roman goddess of dawn. It is part of a private collection in Rome. [1]
In Roman mythology, the goddess Aurora rises every morning to signal the arrival of the Sun by coloring the sky, which was used in the period as a metaphor for creativity and beauty. [1] Her contemporary Pierre Dumonstier created a drawing of Artemisia's hand holding a brush which refers to the "hands of Aurora", [2] praising both her beauty as well as her skill as a colorist. [3]
The painting passed through the Arrighetti family before arriving on the art market in Florence in 1974. [4] Bissell believes the patron was Niccolò Arrighetti, associate of Michelangelo Buonarroti, [5] who had commissioned Gentileschi to paint Allegory of Inclination a decade earlier.