Gentileschi has become a feminist idol in part due to her exceptionally strong sense of self-worth. We know from her letters that she was a firm believer in treating and paying women fairly. A frugal businesswoman, in one letter she demands higher fees for multi-figure compositions, and, in another, she asserts to a Sicilian collector, Don Antonio Ruffo: ‘You will find the spirit of Caesar in the soul of a woman.’
