Anna Banti Author

Anna Banti, the pen name of Lucia Lopresti, was born in Florence in 1895. Like Artemisia Gentileschi, Anna Banti was always defined by a male mentor -in her case, her husband Roberto Longhi to whom Artemisia is dedicated. Longhi was a world famous critic and art historian and was responsible for the rediscovery of the Gentileschis, Orazio and Artemisia in the journal Paragone. Until his death in 1970, Anna Banti lived in Roberto Longhi's shadow. Since then, like Artemisia, she has found an audience - inspired by feminism - able to appreciate her genius in its own right. The dialogue between author and subject in Artemisia is one of the great literary conversations of our time.