Orazio Gentileschi

He received important commissions in Fabriano and Genoa before moving to Paris to the court of Marie de' Medici. He spent the last part of his life at the court of Charles I of England and died in London. He was the father of the painter Artemisia Gentileschi.

The recorded working language is Italian. The field of work recorded is painting and Naturalism. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are portrait, genre, history and religious. Places of work recorded in the authority are Rome, Fabriano and Genoa. Works named in the authority record are Diana the Huntress, Rest on the Flight into Egypt, Public Felicity Triumphant over Dangers, Annunciation and David Contemplating the Head of Goliath. Work by Orazio Gentileschi is recorded in the collections of Museo del Prado, Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, J. Paul Getty Museum, National Gallery of Victoria and National Gallery of Canada.

• Name — Orazio Gentileschi • Birth Name — Orazio Lomi • Born — 9 July 1563 (baptized) • Birthplace — Pisa, Republic of Florence • Died — 7 February 1639 • Place of death — London, England • Known for — Painting • Movement — Mannerism • Children — 6, including Artemisia and Francesco • Relatives — * Baccio Lomi (brother) • Aurelio Lomi (brother)

Gentileschi was born in Tuscany, the son of a Florentine goldsmith called Giovanni Battista Lomi, and baptised at Pisa on 9 July 1563. He later took the name Gentileschi from an uncle with whom he lived after moving to Rome in either 1576 or 1578. His two older brothers Baccio and Aurelio Lomi were also painters.

Much of Gentileschi's early work in Rome was collaborative in nature. He painted the figures for Agostino Tassi's landscapes in the Palazzo Rospigliosi, and possibly in the great hall of the Quirinal Palace, although some authorities ascribe the figures there to Giovanni Lanfranco. He also worked in the churches of Santa Maria Maggiore, San Nicola in Carcere, Santa Maria della Pace, and San Giovanni in Laterano.

In 1621, Gentileschi moved to Genoa, at the invitation of Giovanni Antonio Sauli, who had previously commissioned works from his brother, Aurelio Lomi. Gentileschi's works for Sauli included a Magdalene, a Danäe and Lot and his Daughters. He found other patrons in the city, including Marcantonio Doria, for whom he carried out an elaborate scheme of frescoes of Old Testament subjects in a "casino" (since destroyed) in the grounds of his palace at Sampierdarena.

In the summer or autumn of 1624, Gentileschi left Genoa for Paris, and the court of the Queen Mother, Marie de' Medici. He stayed for two years, but only one picture from his time there has been identified, an allegorical figure of Public Felicity, painted for the Palais du Luxembourg, and now in the collection of the Louvre. In 1626, Gentileschi, accompanied by his three sons, left France for England, where he became part of the household of the King's first minister, George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham. He was to remain in England for the rest of his life. One of his first major works there was a large ceiling painting (since destroyed) of Apollo and the Muses for Buckingham's newly rebuilt London home, York House, in the Strand. He had already received a certain degree of royal patronage by the time of Buckingham's murder in April 1628, and all his commissions after this event came from the royal family. He was a favourite artist of Queen Henrietta Maria, for whom he carried out the ceiling paintings at Queen's House, Greenwich (later transferred to Marlborough House, London). The paintings of his English period are more elegant, artificial and restrained than his previous works. They include two versions of The Finding of Moses, (1633) one of which was sent to Philip IV of Spain; previously assumed to have been a gift from Charles I, it is now known to have been sent on Gentileschi's own initiative. In England van Dyck made a drawing of Gentileschi for inclusion in his Iconographia, a series of portraits of the leading artists, statesmen, collectors and scholars of the time, which he intended to publish as a set of engravings. Gentileschi died in London on 7 February 1639, and was buried in the Queen's Chapel at Somerset House.

• Illustration — Assumption of the Virgin • Illustration — David and Goliath • Illustration — David Contemplating the Head of Goliath • Illustration — Saint Mary Magdalen in Penitence • Illustration — Cupid and Psyche • Illustration — The Lute Player • Illustration — Young Woman Playing a Violin • Illustration — Lot and His Daughters • Illustration — Judith and Her Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes • Illustration — Portrait of a Young Woman as a Sibyl • Illustration — Annunciation • Illustration — Joseph and Potiphar's Wife • Illustration — The Finding of Moses • Illustration — Moses in the basket • Illustration — Susanna and the Elders

His recorded language was Italian. 2 children are recorded: Artemisia Gentileschi and Francesco Gentileschi.

Works recorded as notable number 5: Diana the Huntress, Rest on the Flight into Egypt, Public Felicity Triumphant over Dangers, Annunciation and David Contemplating the Head of Goliath. His recorded genres are portrait, genre, history and religious.