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GENTILESCHI, Artemisia: Mary Magdalen

🖼 Mary Magdalen, 1813-20
Oil on canvas
81 × 105 cm
Washington, United States

Candlelit intimacy reveals Mary Magdalen in penitent solitude, her bare shoulder and jewels contrasting with ascetic devotion, rendered in Gentileschi's characteristic dramatic chiaroscuro. Her psychological intensity and sensual realism challenged Baroque conventions, establishing female artists' authority in depicting religious emotion and inner life.

The story of art
The story of art
E. H. Gombrich
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