Self-Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria

Self-Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria is a 1615–1617 painting by the Italian Baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi, showing the artist in the guise of Catherine of Alexandria. It is now in the collection of the National Gallery, London, which purchased it in 2018 for £3.6 million, including about £2.7 million from its American Friends group.[1][2] It was painted during Gentileschi's time in Florence,[3] and is similar to her Saint Catherine of Alexandria (c. 1619), now in the Uffizi Gallery. It is one of several paintings of female martyrs by Gentileschi that she made after her famous 1612 rape trial, in which her fingers were crushed to force her to tell the truth.[4]

Self-Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria
ArtistArtemisia Gentileschi
Yearc. 1616
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions71.5 cm × 71 cm (28.1 in × 28 in)
LocationNational Gallery, London

Provenance

The original owner of Gentileschi's Self-Portrait as Saint Catherine is unknown, and nothing is recorded of its whereabouts until the early 1940s when the painting was bequeathed by Charles Marie Boudeville to his son.[5] The painting remained in the Boudeville private collection until it was sold at Hôtel Drouot in Paris on 19 December 2017 for €2.4m.[6][7] The €1.9m hammer price was well above the original estimate of €300,000–€400,000.[8] It was purchased by London-based dealers Marco Voena and Fabrizio Moretti, and surpassed the 2014 Gentileschi record price record for her Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy. In July 2018, the National Gallery in London announced that it had purchased the painting from the dealers for £3.6 million (US$4.7 million).[9] It is the first painting by a woman artist acquired by the National Gallery since 1991, when five paintings by Paula Rego were donated to the museum.[10] On acquiring it, the National Gallery executed restoration on the painting.[11]

Other self-portraits by Artemisia Gentileschi

Notes
  1. Dex, Robert (2018-07-06). "National Gallery spends £3.6m on rare painting to boost women's art". Evening Standard. Retrieved 2018-07-06.
  2. "Rare self portrait by Artemisia Gentileschi enters the collection". National Gallery. 2018-07-06. Retrieved 2018-07-06.
  3. "Catalogue entry". Retrieved 2018-07-06.
  4. National Gallery buys Artemisia Gentileschi masterpiece for £3.6m, 6 July 2018 in The Guardian
  5. "The National Gallery's New Artemisia Gentileschi Should Be a Triumph—But Clouds Are Forming Over Its Ownership During WWII". artnet News. 2018-12-12. Retrieved 2019-03-15.
  6. "The National Gallery's New Artemisia Gentileschi Should Be a Triumph—But Clouds Are Forming Over Its Ownership During WWII". artnet News. 2018-12-12. Retrieved 2019-03-15.
  7. Newly discovered Artemisia Gentileschi painting sells for €2.4m at auction in Paris
  8. Press release by auctioneer Christophe Joron-Derem on Drouot website with link to video presentation by art expert Eric Turquin with close-up details of this painting
  9. "London's National Gallery (Finally) Buys a Painting by Artemisia Gentileschi, Pioneering Female Artist of the Italian Renaissance". artnet News. 2018-07-06. Retrieved 2019-03-15.
  10. "National Gallery buys £3.6m masterpiece". 2018-07-06. Retrieved 2019-03-15.
  11. "Art restoration of Artemisia Gentileschi's 'Self Portrait' | National Gallery - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 2020-11-17.

References

Books and articles about Gentileschi
  • Locker, Jesse. Artemisia Gentileschi: The Language of Painting. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2015.
  • Barker, Sheila, Artemisia Gentileschi in a Changing Light. Turnhout: Harvey Miller, 2017
  • Bal, Meike, Mary Garrard, and Nanette Salomon. The Artemisia Files: Artemisia Gentileschi for Feminists and Other Thinking People. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006

Media
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