"At age eighteen, Artemisia Gentileschi finds herself humiliated in papal court for publicly accusing her painting teacher, Agostino Tassi, of raping her. When even her father does not stand up for her and she realizes that she will never live down her reputation as a loose woman if she stays in Rome, she begs to have a marriage arranged for her. Her new husband, an artist named Pietro Stiattesi, takes her to his native Florence, where their life together offers the promise of love and family.

Here Artemisia's talent for painting blossoms and she becomes the first woman elected to the Accademia dell' Arte. But marriage clashes with her newfound fame as a painter, and she begins a lifelong search to reconcile painting and motherhood, passion and genius."--BOOK JACKET.