Italy, 1610. Artemisia is seventeen years old. Her father, Orazio, a well-known painter, has passed his passion for painting on to her.
A forbidden passion, because a woman has neither the right to attend classes at the Academy, nor cause male models to pose nude. Artemisia is, however, persistent. She wants to paint human figures. An anatomical quest mingled, in an impalpable way, with the beginnings of sexual desire. One day, on the beach, Artemisia notices another painter. He is Agostino Tassi, familiar with all the latest techniques in the art of painting. She is troubled and surprised by this arrogant being. Her father shares a commission with him, a series of religious frescoes in a church. Artemisia gets her father to agree to lessons with Agostino, so that he may teach her what she is still lacking: the technique of perspective. Little by little, the relationship between master and pupil takes another form. Agostino is captivated by Artemisia's youth, beauty and talent. She is more and more fascinated by the painter. Their first passionate and fierce lovemaking leaves its mark upon Artemisia, still a virgin. The body is not just an immobile motif anymore that one observes in order to paint, but a living place of desire, pleasure and suffering...