Oh wow. Look at that.
Incredible.
I feel very lucky that we've got it.
We're taking our star painting to places a painting would never normally go to.
This has come from the National Gallery and it's so wonderful to see it in a setting like this.
Today we're at the second stop of Artemisia Visits
and we've brought the painting to Pocklington in Yorkshire.
To a GP surgery.
We're really excited to see how the visitors react
to the painting being in an everyday setting like this.
The idea behind the tour was to take the painting
to places where people would already be going
and a doctor surgery certainly felt like that kind of a place.
Has anybody told you about our visitor?
I have been told about it, yes.
First time I've been gobsmacked when I've come to work.
There's also a lot of discussion at the moment about the health benefits
of going to museums and galleries.
The idea that visiting these places,
seeing art, encountering paintings can be good for your wellbeing.
So for those two reasons It felt like a really good place to come.
Having art in care environments can reduce stress and anxiety
can make spaces feel comforting and reassuring and can inspire people.
Artemisia overcame great challenges in her life
and accomplished great things with her art.
She is a great inspiration to have here at the practice
for patients and staff
when they may be going through difficult challenges.
Artemisia Gentileschi was an extraordinarily
successful artist in the early 17th century.
In a period when it was very difficult
for a woman artist to be as successful as she was.
She explicitly states in a letter to her patron
later on in her life in the 1640s
she says, you know, your illustrous lordship,
I'll show you what a woman can do.
So it's almost like she's challenging him, you know, let me show you.
Everyone assumes women can't paint, well let me show you
what I can paint and what I can achieve.
She really, you know, surpassed everyone's expectations.
It's absolutely fabulous to see her here.
She was a strong woman.
Brilliant absolutely wonderful woman.
And seeing that it just reinforces that.
People have just been so amazed
and really puzzled as to why we have a painting like this in our building.
But the reaction has just been so positive.
It's just really overwhelming to see a painting that I've admired
for such a long time and literally just found out
only yesterday that it was going to be here
and just quite overwhelmed to actually see it.
Just the chance to see a painting in a different setting
is really powerful.
Nice to see things coming to the people
rather than expecting the
people to go to the pictures all the time
As one of the doctors here, I'm delighted to have the painting here.
It's very calming for patients to sit here in the waiting room
and have a look at it.
I for one will go out here with a feeling of well-being.
I think what we would love people to take away from this is
somebody who's maybe never been to a museum or gallery before
meets Artemisia in her doctor surgery and is excited
about seeing a painting is interested about art.
I hope people will be excited by their encounter with this painting.
But I also hope they'll be excited and interested
by the story of Artemisia Gentileschi herself
and the way in which in the 17th century
she set herself to overcome all the barriers
that women experienced and overcame them triumphantly.
And I think that there's perhaps a lesson there for all of us.
My illustrous lordship.
My illustrious lordship.
I'll show you.
I'll show you what a woman can do.