SUPERWOMAN
After the three week isolation in La Roche-Posay, as much as I had seen of the region and visited interesting medieval sites, I was hungry for Paris. My intention had been of going to see a modern art exhibition before meeting Artemisia again. Again ? Yes I had «met» her some five years ago in Rome. Then «she» seemed to follow me. I was lent a book on her life...which didn’t over enthrall me. My next encounter was in Naples 18 months ago. Even if my understanding of Italian was limited to say the least, the guide who introduced me to her «again» was passionate about his subject. As is always the case, such passion flows over onto me.
The first woman painter to be recognized in the 17th century. What fascinated me the most was how could a woman, illiterate, passionate, living in a world of men become a super star? Or, as our guide Claude said today, «a superwoman»? She was born in 1593. The eldest in a family of sons - 4. It must have been at a very early age that he father, a fam