很棒的一本書，喜歡它的導(dǎo)賞文字，每日或每周賞評(píng)一畫都可以，建議背誦，第一幅選的這個(gè)，一做桌面就抓住了娃的眼球，畫中人的真正背景她以前就知道：

Find Portrait of a Young Woman as a Sibyl in the European art galleries.

This painting depicts a young woman holding a scroll and leaning against a slab bearing hieroglyphics. According to an ancient Greek legend, a sibyl was a woman with the gift of predicting the future. By the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church recognized 12 different women as sibyls, foretelling the story of the coming of Jesus. 

Closely examine the painting

Orazio Gentileschi employs several techniques that enhance the drama of this work. Carefully consider how the artist constructed this composition.

? The sibyl is nearly as large as the canvas on which she is painted, imbuing her with a feeling of larger-than-life monumentality.

? The artist positioned the figure toward the space of the viewer. Notice how her pose brings you close to the scene and enhances the immediacy of the encounter.

? A light, the source of which is not shown in the painting, streams upon the face, hand, turban, and cloak, as the figure seems to emerge from the shadows. This focused beam creates stark contrasts, such as that between the white highlights of the turban and
the dark folds that define its shape and volume. Like the lighting of a stage for a theatrical performance, this technique creates an evocative, mysterious tension.

Look carefully at how Gentileschi masterfully and meticulously rendered the folds of the sibyl’s brocaded cloak. The soft shadows and subtle gradations of color make it seem almost touchable. Scholars suggest that Gentileschi’s daughter, Artemisia, was the model for this painting. Examine the distinctive facial features of this young woman. Her high forehead, fleshy face, small mouth, and cleft chin closely resemble the two known portraits of Artemisia. Notice the sense of familiarity in the informal moment that the artist has captured as the sibyl twists to greet the viewer.

? A prominent artist in her own right, Artemisia learned to paint in her father’s workshop, where she was allegedly raped by another of her father’s students when she was 19 years old. In court, she had to endure a painful test to prove the truth of her testimony—metal rings were tightened around her fingers in a procedure called “the sibyls.”If Artemisia did, indeed, serve as her father’s model for this painting, her depiction as a sibyl might have been a reference to this dramatic event.