Her mother died when she was twelve, and suddenly artemisia gentileschi had a stark choice: a life as a nun in a convent or a life grinding pigment for her father's paint. She chose paint. By the time she was seventeen, ...Her mother died when she was twelve, and suddenly artemisia gentileschi had a stark choice: a life as a nun in a convent or a life grinding pigment for her father's paint. She chose paint. By the time she was seventeen, artemisia did more than grind pigment.