Allegory of Painting (Artemisia Gentileschi)

The Allegory of Painting is an painting from around the 1640s attributed in 1988 to the Italian Baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi, although more recent research suggests it was painted by an anonymous Neapolitan painter in the mid-17th century. It is now in the Musee de Tesse, Le Mans, France.

Description
A nude woman lies on her side, apparently asleep, with her midsection partially covered by drapery. She is surrounded by the tools of an artist, such as a palette, drawing compass and brushes as well as a mask, symbolic of imitation. Analysis of x-rays revealed another image under the left arm - a bishop wearing a mitre.

Provenance
It was first documented in the Popeliniere family, from whom it was acquired by the present owners in 1836.

Attribution
It could be another of several paintings by Gentileschi with this subject, but the depiction in this particular painting is unusual, and scholars have debated the meaning and attribution. Bissell saw the depiction as too crude to be the work of Artemisia; he instead viewed it as an insult to the family of Orazio Gentileschi, her father, by the hand of his adversary Giovanni Baglione. Keith Christiansen supported the attribution to Artemisia, relating it to other works of hers from the same period.