Back in Rome she pushes forth with her image as a well-known woman painter and casts aside further accusations. For several years she paints for a patron family but runs away after learning of Agostino's return. After Artemisia discovers Pietro was unfaithful, she escapes with Palmira to Genoa. They provide her with strength and support as she works her way up in society. Her only friends from Rome are two nuns from a convent. She has regular flashbacks about her rape and cruel treatment, and she tries to isolate herself from anyone who knew her in Rome. She does not have much contact with her father as a result of his non-supportive behavior. Artemisia struggles with this strain as she works to raise Palmira as a proper, respectful girl.

Pietro regularly escapes from home and does not return for days at a time.

Pietro is not recognized as a highly skilled painter and his commissions bring in meager income. He commissions her to paint portraits, and he provides her with significant income. Marriage strains form when her skills as a painter land her the attention of Cosimo de' Medici II. She hones her craft and begins to dream of finding rich patrons and becoming the first woman painter in the Accademia del Disegno. Early in her marriage Artemisia is content, and she soon gives birth to a daughter, Palmira. Her eyes are opened to the beauty of life, and she begins to seriously work on her passion for painting. Once Artemisia escapes from Rome, her life significantly improves. Orazio decides to marry Artemisia off to Pietro Antonio, a Florence painter, in the hopes that her life will improve. He is a painter, and his livelihood and patrons would suffer if he spoke out against Agostino. Although Artemisia tries to attain her father's support, he will not stand up for her in court. Agostino is friends with her father, Orazio Gentileschi. She suffers through a papal court ordered physical examination and application of the sibille, a torture apparatus designed to destroy women's fingers. Artemisia endures harsh accusations and insinuations about her relationship with her painting teacher, Agostino Tassi. She is shunned by the Roman townspeople and cruelly perceived as a prostitute. Artemisia Gentileschi is an Italian woman wrongfully accused of being a loose woman after her forced rape. A young woman, raped by her painting teacher, struggles to overcome her abuse and social isolation as she strives for success as female painter.

The passion of artemisia