OIL PAINTING: David Contemplating the Head of Goliath, 1610
Gentileschi's best paintings are Saints Cecilia and Valerian, in the Galleria Borghese of Rome; David Contemplating the Head of Goliath, 1610, in the Palazzo Doria, Genoa; and some works in the royal palace, Turin, noticeable for vivid and uncommon coloring. The Annunciation (1623), painted in Genoa and now in the Galleria Sabauda of Turin, is considered by several authorities Gentileschi's masterpiece. Its plenty of graceful details, as well as the total absence of the earlier chiaroscuro, show the lessening of the influence of
Caravaggio at the time.