| 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. .
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, exposing 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.
It is one of many paintings by Gentileschi of the Magdalene but the depiction is unusual for the period. The 2020 exhibition catalogue on Artemisia 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 (the various existing copies of) Caravaggio's Mary Magdalen in Ecstasy has been made. They both show more of Mary Magdalene's flesh and shoulder than versions by other artists, suggesting 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]
The painting was virtually unknown until a 2011 article revealed an old photograph of it. [3] [2] Research subsequently confirmed its prior existence in a private French collection. [4] In 2014, it 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 February 4th, 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]
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