Getty Museum Displays Restored Painting by Artemisia Gentileschi
The painting Hercules and Omphale by the Baroque painter Artemisia Gentileschi has undergone a complex, years-long restoration after being damaged in an explosion and is displayed in the Getty Museum in Los Angeles from the 10th of June to the 14th of September. This piece is part of the exhibition Artemisia’s Strong Women: Rescuing a Masterpiece, in celebration of the conclusion of its restoration process.
Sursock Palace, the home of Gentileschi’s Hercules and Omphale, was devastated by the August 2020 explosion in the port of Beirut that tore and severely damaged the canvas. In 2022, the painting was sent to the Getty for restoration, where Ulrich Birkmaier, Chief Conservator of the Getty Museum, called the damage to this painting “among the most severe cases of damage” he had encountered in his career. Despite this, damaged and lost portions of the canvas have now been reconstructed by conservators Birkmaier and Matteo Rossi Doria, and the vibrance of Gentileschi’s color palette is visible once again.
At the Getty’s exhibition, this painting, depicting scenes of the Greek myth of Hercules, is shown alongside four of Gentileschi’s other works featuring women from classical and biblical stories.
https://www.getty.edu/exhibitions/artemisia/
– Lauren Carroll
