Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy

c. 1625

Artemisia Gentileschi

Associated Names
Artemisia Gentileschi

Artist, Italian, 1593 - c. 1654

This painting shows a woman sitting with her body turned to the right, her hands clasped around her knees and her head tilted up to the ceiling. Her eyes are closed, and her long, wavy hair flows over her shoulders and down her back. She has pale skin, and her face is illuminated by dramatic lighting, highlighting her round cheeks and small nose. She is wearing a white blouse with ruffled sleeves that drapes off of her right shoulder, exposing her neck, sternum, and part of her shoulder. Over this shirt she seems to be wearing a draped purple garment with a yellow border that covers her other shoulder and her legs. The background is dark.

Media Options

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On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery M29

Artwork overview

More About this Artwork

Interactive Article:  The Exceptional Emotion of Artemisia Gentileschi’s "Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy"

One of the Italian baroque painter’s finest works recently joined our collection.

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Private collection, southern France;[1] (sale, Sotheby's, Paris, 26 June 2014, no. 24); private collection, Europe; purchased 2024 by private collection, Europe; purchased 2025 by NGA.
[1] According to Sotheby's 2014 catalogue entry, the painting was with the same private collection for at least two generations.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

2019

  • Caravaggio, Bernini: Early Baroque in Rome, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna; Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 2019-2020, no. 26.

2020

  • Artemisia, National Gallery, London, 2020-2021, no. 24.

2021

  • By Her Hand: Artemisia Gentileschi and Women Artists in Italy, 1500-1800, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford; Detroit Institute of Art, 2021-2022, no. 28.

Bibliography

2011

  • Papi, Gianni. "Artemisia Gentileschi, Milan." Burlington Magazine 153, no. 1305. (December 2011): 846-847. fig. 83.

2014

  • Papi, Gianni. Spogliando modelli e alzando lumi: Scritti su Caravaggio e l'ambiente caravaggesco. Naples, 2014: 207, 208, fig. 1, 209, fig. 2, 210, fig. 3 (detail), 213, fig.6, (detail).

2017

  • Barker, Sheila, ed., Artemisia Gentileschi in a Changing Light. London/Turnhout, 2017: 16-17, 20, 37, n. 33, n. 38, 147-149, 179-182, 217-235, repros.

2020

  • Garrard, Mary. _Artemisia Gentileschi and Feminism in Early Modern Europe._London, 2020: 122-126.

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