The 2020 Times Art Book of the Year. In 2020, nothing has been simple. The much-anticipated exhibition of Artemsia Gentileschi's paintings at the National Gallery was set to debut on April 4th. The paintings arrived, the catalogs arrived, and then the coronavirus arrived, closing the gallery. However, six months later, they heroically managed to open the show in circumstances that would have been unthinkable at the start of the year. Despite reserved time slots and long lines, face masks and social isolation, the exhibition received a slew of five-star reviews and rapidly sold out... Only to have the exhibition close again during the second lockdown... and the third. 
 
'She's fierce, this Artemisia: a thoroughly modern lady,' observed Alasdair Sooke in the Daily Telegraph. Don't miss this exhibition of historical art that feels exhilaratingly contemporary from beginning to end.' The display was a success for the curator Letizia, according to Will Gompertz at the BBC: 'There is an art to exhibiting art. A good curator is more than just a skilled scholar with obscure information that they occasionally share with us in an exhibition. Curators who have a sense of theater and occasion are good storytellers. Impresarios are good curators.'