Kimbell acquire Artemisia Gentileschi Magdalene
September 9 2024
Picture: Kimbell Art Musuem
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Kimbell Art Museum in Texas have announced their acquisition of a Penitent Mary Magdalene by Artemisia Gentileschi. This is the latest acquisition by the institution, who have acquired works by Stubbs and Gainsborough in the last year. The work was acquired through the US dealers Adam Williams Fine Art and had last appeared on the market at Tajan in 2001.
According to the article linked above:
There are various copies of this work, and when it was sold in 2001 at Tajan, the attribution was listed as the “atelier of Artemisia Gentileschi.” But in 2021, art historian Jesse Locker published research in Apollo that seemed to confirm that the painting was, indeed, by her. He pointed out that there are copies of Penitent Mary Magdalene, but this painting contains a tasseled curtain that is not rendered the same way in other works. That same drape appears in other works confirmed to be by Gentileschi.
[...]
Eric Lee, director of the museum, said in a statement, “The Kimbell has long wished to acquire a work by Artemisia Gentileschi but until now never found the right painting for its collection by this major figure of Italian Baroque art. We are thrilled to present Artemisia Gentileschi’s dazzling Penitent Mary Magdalene to the public for the first time since it was painted in the seventeenth century.”
Here's another version of the composition which is in a museum in Mexico.
