Joan Altabe

“Judidth Beheading Holofernes” by Artemesiaa Gentileschi Rape: a penalty of a second kind Joan Altabe Joan Altabe Published Jul 9, 2026 This is a tale of two rapes, one in Rome in 1652, and the other in Manhattan in 1995. In both cases, the assailants were tried by jury and found guilty. A transcript of the first trial noted 17-year-old Artemesia Gentileschi testifying under voluntary torture of thumbscrews that her art teacher, Agostino Tassi, had savagely attacked her.

The National Gallery in London has acquired a painting by Angelica Kauffman titled “Achilles Discovered Among the Daughters of Lycomedes,” created in 1787. Not a household name, right? Kauffman doesn’t have the notoriety of a Frida Kahlo, famed for making her art from a wheelchair and who Forbes magazine just headlined this way: “Frida Kahlo, Global Brand, Might Just Be The Artist Of Our Time.

Norman Rockwell’s image of the White House, commissioned by the FDR administration, is a must-see at the Historical Association in D.C.. What’s so special about a rendering of the president’s house? It no longer exists. What you see in Rockwell's rendering is not what you get nowadays in real time. Even a casual glance at before-and-after pictures of the White House’s front elevation makes clear that Trump’s constructions/deconstructions converted the historic house to a vestige of its former self.