Portrait of a Gentleman, probably Antoine de Ville

We think of Artemisia Gentileschi as the painter of Judith beheading Holofernes, all violence and drama, but in her own day she was prized as a portraitist, and this is one of the few portraits by her to survive. She painted it in Rome around 1626. The sitter is thought to be Antoine de Ville, a French military engineer who wrote a treatise on building fortifications, and Artemisia tucked her own initials into the delicate lace of his collar, a signature so discreet it went unnoticed for years. He stands full length, hand resting on his sword, the pose of a confident man of action. A year later an engraving of De Ville, credited to Artemisia, appeared at the front of his book.