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Lot Essay
This Penitent Magdalene has recently been added to Artemisia Gentileschi’s oeuvre, which is replete with depictions of tragic heroines and rebellious women. Artemisia’s own life story – not unlike her subjects – has been too often framed in terms of its tragedy and not its triumphs. The dialogue surrounding Artemisia’s mature period in Naples, when the present painting was completed, has shifted to focus on her independence and self-reliance, as new research has revealed more of Artemisia’s own voice.
By the time Artemisia settled in Naples around 1641, she had already overcome the damage caused to her reputation caused by the scandal of her rape and the subsequent trial, which ordered Agostino Tassi jailed for his crimes. Her marriage to Pierantonio Stiattesi and the favor of the House of Medici in Florence helped to rebuild her reputation and she gained new patrons during stays in Rome and Venice. When she arrived in Naples, she was separated from her husband, financially independent and a commercial success in her own right. She set up a successful workshop with her only surviving child, Prudenzia, where gifted artists including Bernardo Cavallino, Domenico Gargiulo, and Onofrio Palumbo became her assistants and collaborators. The collaborative activity in her workshop, the incredible demand for her works and Artemisia’s insistence on invention - claiming in a letter to her most important patron of the period, Don Antonio Ruffino, 'in none of my pictures has an element ever been found to be repeated, not even a hand' - has made it difficult for art historians to identify the nature of her production in this period.
The paintings produced in Naples, however complex, bear a strong editorial line. Artemisia focused on the subjects which made her famous, capitalizing on the market's desire for a female painter’s version of Judith, Lucretia, Bathsheba, Susannah or, in the present case, Mary Magdalene. The present Penitent Magdalene bears a strong resemblance to a figure type used in Artemisia’s atelier in the 1640s, as evidenced by a similar model used for a Lucretia recently sold in Vienna (fig. 1, sold Dorotheum, 23 October 2018, lot 56). The allure of Artemisia’s Madgalenes is in their inversion of the stereotypical depiction of the biblical figure. In her works the usually saintly woman is given a new vitality, and the Magdalene in particular became a space for invention for Artemisia throughout her career. Earlier examples from her oeuvre transform the Saint into an allegory of Melancholy and explore the emotional experience of religious ecstasy rather than penance. The present Penitent Magdalene continues this tradition of inversion and invention. While some of the traditional attributes of the Saint are included, she is not depicted as suffering for her penance, but rather caught in a moment of hopeful prayer. Artemisia’s unique approach to her female subjects is what made her a commercial success in her own time and what continues to appeal to contemporary viewers.
By the time Artemisia settled in Naples around 1641, she had already overcome the damage caused to her reputation caused by the scandal of her rape and the subsequent trial, which ordered Agostino Tassi jailed for his crimes. Her marriage to Pierantonio Stiattesi and the favor of the House of Medici in Florence helped to rebuild her reputation and she gained new patrons during stays in Rome and Venice. When she arrived in Naples, she was separated from her husband, financially independent and a commercial success in her own right. She set up a successful workshop with her only surviving child, Prudenzia, where gifted artists including Bernardo Cavallino, Domenico Gargiulo, and Onofrio Palumbo became her assistants and collaborators. The collaborative activity in her workshop, the incredible demand for her works and Artemisia’s insistence on invention - claiming in a letter to her most important patron of the period, Don Antonio Ruffino, 'in none of my pictures has an element ever been found to be repeated, not even a hand' - has made it difficult for art historians to identify the nature of her production in this period.
The paintings produced in Naples, however complex, bear a strong editorial line. Artemisia focused on the subjects which made her famous, capitalizing on the market's desire for a female painter’s version of Judith, Lucretia, Bathsheba, Susannah or, in the present case, Mary Magdalene. The present Penitent Magdalene bears a strong resemblance to a figure type used in Artemisia’s atelier in the 1640s, as evidenced by a similar model used for a Lucretia recently sold in Vienna (fig. 1, sold Dorotheum, 23 October 2018, lot 56). The allure of Artemisia’s Madgalenes is in their inversion of the stereotypical depiction of the biblical figure. In her works the usually saintly woman is given a new vitality, and the Magdalene in particular became a space for invention for Artemisia throughout her career. Earlier examples from her oeuvre transform the Saint into an allegory of Melancholy and explore the emotional experience of religious ecstasy rather than penance. The present Penitent Magdalene continues this tradition of inversion and invention. While some of the traditional attributes of the Saint are included, she is not depicted as suffering for her penance, but rather caught in a moment of hopeful prayer. Artemisia’s unique approach to her female subjects is what made her a commercial success in her own time and what continues to appeal to contemporary viewers.