[8] Self-Portrait as a Lute Player illustrates how she incorporates Caravaggesque elements of dramatic light, dark contrasting tones, and a vivid depiction of reality in her artwork.

[6] The Self-Portrait as a Lute Player was created after Gentileschi was married and moved from Rome to Florence after a fourteen-month rape trial against Agostino Tassi.

[8] They played an important role in funding the aristocratic development of artists and supported Gentileschi's entry into the male-dominated Accademia del Disegno.

[6] The key features of Gentileschi that align this painting with being her self-portrait are the textured chestnut hair, high forehead, elevated cheekbones, bumpy nose ridge, arched eyebrows, pressed lips, and almond shaped eyes.

[7] Gentileschi depicts herself in the guise of a Romani musician, denoted by the headscarf and low-cut blouse; this style of entertainers would have appeared at Italian court performances.

[6] Garrard explains Romani musicians were popular figures depicted in theater and they often represented music as "food of love.

[6] According to Locker, painters had a reputation of being deceivers by profession since they created works of art that tricked the viewers into believing what they saw painted was a reality.

[6] The fabric would be easily identified as quality material by Florentine audiences and it was used in these performances to reflect light and add awe to the movement heavy spectacle.

[7] Portraying herself as a musician could be an indication that Gentileschi was aligning herself with other famous women artists such as Sofonisba Anguissola and Lavina Fontana.

[4] Judith Mann entertains the idea that this costume indicates Gentileschi depicting herself as a prostitute in a self confessional way similar to what Rembrandt did in some of his paintings.

[7] She disguises her many self expressions in her fictive paintings to avoid being assigned any single role of feminine identity constructed by men.

[7] The composition is closely related to two other contemporaneous depictions of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, which suggests that the artist was using her self-portraits as a means of establishing her reputation in Florence.