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Artemisia and Galileo


 
 

During the sixteenth century, GALILEO visiting
ARTMESIA at her studio. GALILEO setting down
on a chair that is close to ARTMESIA drawing desk.

ARTMESIA: Good morning Mr. Galilei.
GALILEO: Good morning Artmesia. What are you working on?
ARTMESIA: I am working on my new drawing.
GALILEO: What new drawing?
ARTMESIA: Oh! I plan to show you this drawing that is why I invited you to come to my studio secretly.  I think this is the best opportunity for me to this share with you. Now I am trying to draw a nude man.
GALILEO: What? A nude man?
ARTMESIA: Yes! A nude man.
ARTMESIA hands her drawing to GALILEO. GALILEO
looks at the drawings, slowly, one by one, he could not see them well.
He had to use magnify glasses. Then he shook his head.
GALILEO: Oh dear what have you done to yourself? People within society will think that you are a prostitute. I think what you are doing right now is against what people in our generation believe.  I would not be happy with it too.
ARTMESIA: Mr. Galilei, I know what I am doing right now. I believe in myself, I am following your footsteps.
GALILEO: But… it is a big risk for you. You are young child that is still growing up.  I am an old man and I do not have much more time to live, so if it was me, I can afford to take this risk.
ARTMESIA:  It is not a big deal for me, I have always dream to becoming a real artist.  My father only taught me what society thought a proper woman should be.
GALILEO: (proud). You are a young girl who hungers for knowledge, but be careful child.  Can you tell me how you came up with these ideas?
ARTMESIA: First of all I wanted to draw something that is in the nature.  One day I was in my room, I tried to draw myself (the top part of my body).  One side of my hand I held a mirror to look at myself and other side I held on my drawing utensil.  Then one day, I was walking by the beach. Guess what I saw?
GALILEO: What did you see?
ARTMESIA: I saw a couple was making love.  I thought it would be interesting thing to draw because that is human in nature.  And I asked my childhood friend to take his clothes off, so I can see man in natural figure.
GALILEO: Oh, no. What happen next?
ARTMESIA: Then I drew what I saw.  Accidentally on a glooming night, I snuck into Tassi’s studio. Tassi later became my teacher.  He did not want to teach me at first, but then I saw him making love. I laughed and he saw me by his window.  He said if I would not say anything, he would teach me.  It was a trade off for us.  After that I had shown him my draws of natural human beings.
GALILEO: In other words…. naked people?
ARTMESIA: (laugh.) Yes.  Later on the relationship between Tassi and I became closer.  I asked him to be one of my models.  You know at first he thought that I was not a virgin based on what I was drawing.  He thought like what you thought of me at first.  Then we sleep together, in that moment he found out that I was not a virgin.
GALILEO: Did your father notice that?
ARTEMISIA: He found out about it, he asked Tassi to marry me.  He can not have two wives at the same time.  We knew that Tassi already married, but then his wife left him. Everyone now knows the relationship between us, but I still was being investigated.
GALILEO: You should not have done this; you are taking such a big risk.  Do you have any idea what the court would do to you?
ARTEMISIA: I have no idea, but I would not change the truth about me.  I want to stand for who I am; I do not worry how the society thinks.  At least I can prove to society and myself that what I believe in has to exist.  So! How about you?  I am sorry to ask you to come to my studio, even though I heard that you are not very healthy and I did not want to cause you to be any sicker.  I wanted to do it this way because I could not take my drawings to you, people might assume I am dirty or start questioning.  I hope you would understand.
GALILEO: Do not worry Artemisia.  You and I are in the same situation.  I am found to be some one that is against the Pope, cardinals, princes, scholars, captains, merchants and housewives, as my enemies have proclaimed to the world.  Even though I not allow to study the universe, but I want to understand it.
ARTMISIA: When I first heard that you tried to make a profit out of the telescope, I assumed that you will do something more than what I could have possibly thought. How did you come up with telescope looking up into the sky, the earth orbiting around the moon and all of that? It sound a little interesting to me, but I could not go to visit you because I was working on my drawing.
GALILEO:  (smile) Yeah I know, a nude man.  I’m sorry, let’s go back to my story.  I know what I believe in is true.  I did not try to be against what the Pope and the society had been following through many generations ago.  You know my dear, Artemisia, what I am trying to associate my belief and the fact of the world.
ARTEMISIA put her hand on GALILEO and shows her emotional feelings.
ARTEMSIA: I understand Mr. Galilei.  Human beings like us are not taking so much space on this planet.  We believe in ourselves and there will be nothing that could take our faith away.
GALILEO: True, that is why I experience myself and Andrea, who was one of my students.  I asked him to sit on a chair and then I had something that stays in the middle of the room.  We pretended the center of the room was the sun and Andrea sitting on a chair was the earth.  We were one side of the room then I lifted up the chair that he sat on to other side of the room.  Then I asked him which was moving? He said, “I am moving.” What do you think?
ARTEMISIA: Of course! Andrea was moving.
GALILEO: Poor Artemisia, you are wrong. The chair was moving, Andrea did not move. He was just sat down on the chair the whole time.  Still it was difficult to find the fact of the moon and earth because no one would believe what I discovered.  Then I kept on trying to find more of the fact to be my evidence to show the Pope and church.  I also wrote a book “Discorsi”, I do not let anyone know about it.  But now you do know.
ARTMISIA: I will keep it as a secret.
GALILEO: I think it is a little late now; I have to get back to my place.  My daughter, Virginia might be worry about me.
ARTMISIA: Thank you for coming; I will visit you sometime soon.  Good night, sir.
GALILEO: You are welcome to my place anytime and be free to talk to me.  Remember we are going to do what we have faith in.  Good night.
GALILEO and ARTEMISIA rose from the chairs. GALILEO
kissed ARTEMISIA on her right hand to say good-bye.  Then he goes.
 
 

Works Cited

Brechet, Bertolt. Galileo. Grove Press, Inc. New York.1996
Merlet, Agens Dir. Artemisia. Perf. Valentina Cervi, Miki Manojlovic. USA 1997.
 
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