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Disobedient: The gripping feminist retelling of a seventeenth century heroine forging her own destiny

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It’s hard to put your finger on what is missing but when a horrific rape scene is easy to skim over, something is wrong. Jealousy, vengeance, and the male expectation of unchallenged dominance seek to thwart an artist’s aspirations and destroy her career and reputation, but she will prove to be stronger than they are. I have to admit I had no idea this was based on a real person and I also admit that my knowledge of art and painting was pretty limited: it also wasn't a topic that I was particularly interested in .

It’s a novel full of very strong emotion, and it’s inspired from the emotion and realism that can be seen in her paintings. I loved the happy(ish) ending that the author provided, in spite of all the hardships it took to get there.

It really brought the world of renaissance art to life for me, imaginging how an artist might transcribe their personal passions into what seem to be straightforward biblical scenes. The characters are nuanced and relatable; the writing is colourful and moreish; the pace and plotting are pitch perfect. I haven’t experienced an artist’s studio but feel as if I have now – the smells, the assistant, the sitter. Zo komt Agistino Tassi in haar leven - ook een schilder - maar hij heeft tijdens haar bijlessen een ander doel voor ogen.

In a novel as vivid and powerful as the paintings made by its main character, Fremantle tells the story of Artemisia Gentileschi, Renaissance artist and feminist icon. The book makes Gentileschi's father, Orazio, into a bumbling idiot with no talent, even though several years after the events of this book take place, he becomes a noted patron of Queen Henrietta Maria, the woman after whom Maryland was named. And had me crying, not just emotionally about what happens but feeling helpless about the injustice too! It is intimate in a way I can't articulate, and deeply personal to me in a way I will never be able to explain.Artemisia Gentileschi is a talented painter - more so than her drunkard father, but is restricted by the fact of being a female (obedience, marriage, baby, try not to die in childbirth) in Rome in the early 1600s. The reader can't help but want her to overcome the many obstacles and prejudices that she and her family endure so that she can continue to be true to herself. They are both Historical Fiction set in Italy with a headstrong female character who ends up in a relationship she doesn't want to be in, and both novels feature the act of painting. Disobedient by Elizabeth Fremantle is a fictional novel based on the life of baroque female painter Artemisia Gentileschi, set in Rome in the early 17th Century. One feels infuriated reading how dismissive her male peers are of her obvious talent and how she must "guard her honor" above all.

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