Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy
| Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy | |
|---|---|
| Artist | Artemisia Gentileschi |
| Year | c. 1620-5 |
| Medium | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 81 cm × 105 cm (32 in × 41 in) |
| Location | National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. |
Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy is a painting by the Italian baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi. It is in the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
Description
A woman is shown in a seated position, with her head leaning back and hands clasped around her knee. She wears a purple and ochre gown over a lace-trimmed white chemise. As she leans back, her wavy blond hair cascades behind her and the chemise has slipped down to expose her right shoulder. Her eyes are closed as she sits in a darkened landscape, strongly illuminated by a light source from the right of the painting.
Gentileschi's interpretation
This is one of many paintings of the Magdalene by Gentileschi, but the depiction is unusual for the period. A 2020 exhibition catalogue notes that "Mary Magdalene is more usually shown penitent in a landscape ... [here] she is passionately alive and in the throes of ecstatic rapture".[1] The connection to Caravaggio's Mary Magdalen in Ecstasy has been noted. Both artists show more of Mary Magdalene's flesh and shoulder than versions by others, lending an erotic charge to the devotional scene.[1] Other symbols that were typically used to demonstrate her repentance—skull, candle, ointment jar—are absent, leading art historians to focus on the more sensual feel of the painting in their identification and attribution.[1]
Provenance
The painting was virtually unknown until a 2011 article identified it based on an old photograph.[3][2] Research then confirmed it had once been held in a private French collection.[4] In 2014, the painting was sold in Paris for €865,000,[5][a] more than €600,000 above Sotheby's estimated price – a record price at the time for a work by Gentileschi.[5][b]
On 4 February 2026, the National Gallery of Art announced that they had acquired the work for their permanent collection, describing it as "defining artwork by one of the 17th century's most celebrated artists".[7]
There is no precise date for the painting; the first half of the 1620s has been suggested.[1][7]
Notes
- ^ About €1,063,000 today, indexed by general consumer prices rather than the art market and about US$1.15 million at the time,
- ^ That record was broken in 2018 with the sale of her Self-Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria.[6]
See also
References
- ^ a b c d Treves, Letizia; Barker, Sheila; Cavazzini, Patrizia; Cropper, Elizabeth; Whitlum-Cooper, Francesca (2020). Artemisia. Yale University Press, National Gallery London. p. 182. ISBN 978-1-85709-656-9. OCLC 1117638110.
- ^ a b Artemisia Gentileschi: Milan, by Gianni Papi, The Burlington Magazine, Vol. 153, No. 1305 (December 2011), pp. 846-847
- ^ "Sotheby's Offers Lost Artemisia Gentileschi Masterpiece". Artnet News. 2014-06-10. Retrieved 2020-05-02.
- ^ "Immunity From Seizure: Artemisia" (PDF). The National Gallery, London.
- ^ a b Hansson, Hendrik (27 June 2014). "Record $1.2 Million at Sotheby's Paris for Recently Discovered Artemisia Gentileschi". Artnet. Retrieved 26 February 2026.
- ^ "Artemisia Gentileschi - Mary Magdalene in Ectsasy". Sotheby's. Tableaux Et Dessins Anciens Et Du XIXe Siècle. 26 June 2014. Retrieved 2 May 2020.
- ^ a b "The National Gallery of Art Acquires "Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy," A Defining Masterwork by Artemisia Gentileschi" (Press release). National Gallery of Art. February 4, 2026.