An early self-portrait by Artemisia Gentileschi broke a record for the Italian Baroque painter when it sold at Christie’s in New York for $5.69 million—well over its estimate of $2.5 million to $3.5 million.
As reported by Artnet News, “The previous auction high for a Gentileschi was $5.25 million (€4.7 million), which was set in 2019 at Artcurial in Paris for Lucrèce, above a high estimate of €800,000. Adjusted for inflation, that would come to roughly $6.6 million, almost $1 million above the new result.”
The painting depicts Gentileschi as Saint Catherine of Alexandria and is one of only five known self-portraits by the artist, three of which are in museums, according to Christie’s. Gentileschi painted it when she was 20 years old and living in Florence. Per the auction house, “This period marked a real transformation in her life and career, for it was in Florence that Artemisia found her artistic voice, stepping out of her father’s shadow to become a professional painter in her own right.”
The work had been on loan to Oslo’s Nasjonalmuseet since 2022, and Christie’s said that it has been requested for the the upcoming exhibition “Artemisia Gentileschi: The Triumph of Painting,” scheduled for February 2028 at the Nivaagaard Collection in Nivå, Denmark.
The record sale of Self-Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria happened on the same day the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., announced its acquisition of the artist’s Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy (circa 1625), as noted by Artnet.
The NGA said that “acquisition meaningfully expands the museum’s holdings of Italian Baroque paintings by adding a defining artwork by one of the 17th-century’s most celebrated artists,” and that the painting will go view sometime later this month.
