Next (Artemisia drawing herself by candlelight at night).
This part of opening title sequence is echoed when we see Artemisia in close up as she finishes painting the blood on "Judith and Holofernes," also seen in close up like Michaelangelo's "Last Judgment." Her theft of the candle at the end of this scene links her comically to Promotheus (and perhaps transgressive, romantic poets like Percy Shelley. Merlet says she had Wuthering Heights in mind in her preface to the French novelization of her film; the preface was not translated for the English edition).
This scene involves our participating in a mistake of perspective. When the camera cuts from Artemisia looking at the painting to a shot of a young nun turning to leave the Church, we may think that that young nun is Artemisia. Only when the camera cuts back to her do we see that the nun in the earlier shot was still being seen from Artemisia's perspective. The entire opening title sequence, like many other moments in the film, involves the use of enigma, the temporary withholding or deferral of meaning. Perspective involves looking forward as much as it does looking back.
