Self-Portrait, after Artemisia Gentileschi

Visual Art
Written By Alexandra Terlesky

(Oil painting, 2025-Oct 2026)

“When I completed the first piece, after a long two years of trying to pay as accurate a tribute as possible to the original piece (linked here), I felt only more awe and wonder at the original artist than when I started. Each brush stroke brought me closer, yet also removed me from Gentileschi; who could possibly dream to not only paint as masterfully as she did, but to face similar trials and be as prolific? Tired but inspired, I created my own Self-Portrait.”

Alexandra Terlesky

Alexandra Terlesky is a fine artist from the Los Angeles area. She is currently a student at the Kline Academy in Culver City, where she is learning the classical drawing and painting techniques. Classical painting is done in a multitude of layers: first, a carefully composed drawing or sketch of the painting, then either a monochromatic or very muted second layer of oil paint that is then covered with what are called “glazes,” and, finally, finishing the painting with a varnish to make the colors truly sing. Her copy of Artemisia Gentileschi’s, “Self-Portrait as the Allegory of Painting” is her rendition, and homage, to one of the only female Caravaggisti (followers of Caravaggio).

Next

Altitude