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Artemisia Gentileschi, 'Self Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria', about 1615-17
About the work
Overview
Artemisia Gentileschi, the most celebrated female artist of the seventeenth century, appears in the guise of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, a Christian saint martyred in the early fourth century. She leans on a broken wheel studded with iron spikes, to which she was bound and tortured, and which became her standard attribute in art. Her right hand, delicately holding a martyr’s palm between thumb and forefinger, is brought to her chest.
The saint is portrayed as resilient, having endured torture – as indeed the artist herself did during the trial following her rape at the age of 17 by the painter Agostino Tassi. After the trial Artemisia moved from Rome to Florence, where this painting was probably made. She seems to have used her own image frequently in works she produced in Florence – a number of self portraits are known and others are recorded in seventeenth-century inventories. New to the city and keen to demonstrate her talent, she may have painted such pictures in a conscious act of self-promotion.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- Self Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria
- Artist
- Artemisia Gentileschi
- Artist dates
- 1593 - 1654 or later
- Date made
- about 1615-17
- Medium and support
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 71.4 × 69 cm
- Acquisition credit
- Bought with the support of the American Friends of the National Gallery, the National Gallery Trust, Art Fund (through the legacy of Sir Denis Mahon), Lord and Lady Sassoon, Lady Getty, Hannah Rothschild CBE, Mrs Mollie W. Vickers, the Hon. Mrs Ashley Dawson-Damer, The Society of Dilettanti Charitable Trust Fund, Mr Andrew Green QC and Ms Hirschl, Mr Matthew Santos and Mrs Mary Kuusisto, Mr Peter Scott CBE QC and Dr Richard Ballantine, the Diane Apostolos-Cappadona Trust, Mr Stephen Allcock, Mr James and Lady Emma Barnard, Miss Maxine White and Mr James Mortimer, Michael and Felicia Crystal, The W T J Griffin Charitable Settlement and other donors including those who wish to remain anonymous, 2018
- Inventory number
- NG6671
- Location
- Room 32
- Collection
- Main Collection
- Frame
- 17th-century Italian Frame
Provenance
Believed to have been in the possession of the Boudeville family for several generations; by descent to Charles Marie Boudeville (died early 1940s), Châtenois, Vosges, France; by descent to his son, Georges Boudeville (1930–1984); by descent to his only son, Nicolas Boudeville (born 1966), Chevalier de l’Ordre du Mérite; by whom sold, Christophe Joron‐Derem, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 19 December 2017, lot 69, where purchased by Marco Voena, Old and Modern Masters Ltd, and Fabrizio Moretti; purchased by the National Gallery, 2018.
Additional information
This painting is included in a list of works with incomplete provenance from 1933–1945; for more information see Whereabouts of paintings 1933–1945.
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in ‘National Gallery Catalogues: Online Entries’, London 2024; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Exhibition history
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2019Artemisia visitsGlasgow Women's Library6 March 2019 - 19 March 2019Pocklington General Practice29 April 2019 - 11 May 2019Sacred Heart Catholic High School14 May 2019 - 17 May 2019HMP Send20 May 2019 - 22 May 2019Wood Street Library1 June 2019 - 16 June 2019
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2020ArtemisiaThe National Gallery (London)3 October 2020 - 24 January 2021
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2021By Her Hand: Artemisia Gentileschi and Women Artists in Italy, 1500–1800Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art30 September 2021 - 9 January 2022The Detroit Institute of Arts6 February 2022 - 29 May 2022
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2022Artemisia Gentileschi in NaplesGallerie d'Italia - Palazzo del Banco di Napoli1 December 2022 - 20 March 2023
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2024National TreasuresIkon Gallery10 May 2024 - 8 September 2024
Bibliography
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1989M.D. Garrard, Artemisia Gentileschi: The Image of the Female Hero in Italian Baroque Art, Princeton 1989
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1993G.L. Hersey, 'Female and Male Art: "Postille" to Garrard's "Artemisia Gentileschi"', in J. Chenault Porter and S.C. Scott Munshower (eds), Parthenope's Splendor: Art of the Golden Age in Naples, Papers in Art History from the Pennsylvania State University 7, University Park PA 1993, pp. 322-35
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1993J. Chenault Porter and S.C. Scott Munshower (eds), Parthenope’s Splendor: Art of the Golden Age in Naples, Papers in Art History from the Pennsylvania State University 7, University Park PA 1993
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1998A. Lapierre, Artemisia: Un duel pour l'immortalité, Paris 1998
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1999R.W. Bissell, Artemisia Gentileschi and the Authority of Art: Critical Reading and Catalogue Raisonné, University Park PA 1999
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2000G. Papi, 'Review: Artemisia Gentileschi and the Authority of Art by Roger Ward Bissell', The Burlington Magazine, CXLII/1168, July 2000, pp. 452-3
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2001K. Christiansen and J.W. Mann (eds), Orazio and Artemisia Gentileschi (exh. cat. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 14 Februrary 2002 - 12 May 2002), New York 2001
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2001E. Cropper, 'Life on the Edge: Artemisia Gentileschi, Famous Woman Painter', in K. Christiansen and J.W. Mann (eds), Orazio and Artemisia Gentileschi, New York 2001, pp. 263-81
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2005M. Bal, 'Grounds of Comparison', in M. Bal (ed.), The Artemisia Files: Artemisia Gentileschi for Feminists and Other Thinking People, Chicago 2005, pp. 138-43
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2005J.W. Mann, 'The Myth of Artemisia as a Chameleon: A New Look at the London Allegory of Painting', in J.W. Mann (ed.), Artemisia Gentileschi: Taking Stock, Turnhout 2005, pp. 51-77
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2006C. Seccaroni, Giallorino: Storia dei Pigmenti Gialli di Natura Sintetica, Rome 2006
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2011F. Paliaga, 'Una Santa Caterina di Artemisia Gentileschi', Storia dell’arte, CXXIX, 2011, pp. 56-63
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2014S. Barker, 'A New Document Concerning Artemisia Gentileschi's Marriage’, The Burlington Magazine, CLVI, 2014, pp. 803-4
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2015J.M. Locker, Artemisia Gentileschi: The Language of Painting, New Haven 2015
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2016Mancini, Giorgia, and Nicholas Penny, National Gallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth Century Italian Paintings, 3, Bologna and Ferrara, London 2016
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2017G. Papi, 'Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy and the Madonna of the Svezzamento: Two Masterpieces by Artemisia', in S. Barker (ed.), Artemisia Gentileschi in a Changing Light, Turnhout 2017, pp. 147-66
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2019National Gallery, The National Gallery: Review of the Year, April 2018 - March 2019, London 2019
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2019L. Keith et al., 'Artemisia Gentileschi's Self Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria', National Gallery Technical Bulletin, XL, 2019, pp. 4-17
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2019C. Frosinini and M.L. Reginella, 'Artemisia Gentileschi, la Santa Caterina d’Alessandria delle Gallerie degli Uffizi. Nuove acquisizioni dalle indagini diagonistiche', OPD Restauro, 31, 2019, pp. 109-21
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2019L. Treves, 'Artemisia Gentileschi’s Self Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria', in The National Gallery: Review of the Year April 2018 - March 2019, London 2019, pp. 12-3
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2020L. Treves, Artemisia (exh. cat., The National Gallery, London), London 2020
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2020C. Fryklund and L. Dahlén, 'Acquisitions / Artemisia Gentileschi's Saint Catherine of Alexandria', Art Bulletin of Nationalmuseum, XXVII/2, 2020, pp. 13-22
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2020M.D. Garrard, Artemisia Gentileschi and Feminism in Early Modern Europe, London 2020
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2020L. Treves,'Artemisia Portraying Her Self', in L. Treves (ed.), Artemisia, London 2020, pp. 64-77
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2020L. Keith, 'Looking at Artemisia', in L. Treves (ed.), Artemisia, London 2020, pp. 90-105
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2021S. Barker, Artemisia Gentileschi (Illuminating Women Artists), London 2021
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2021F. Solinas, Lettere di Artemisia, Florence 2021
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2021E. Straussman-Pflanzer and O. Tostmann (eds), By Her Hand: Artemisia Gentileschi and Women Artists in Italy, 1500-1800 (exh. cat. Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, 30 September 2021 - 9 January 2022; Detroit Institute of Arts, 6 February 2022 - 29 May 2022), New Haven 2021
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2024The National Gallery, National Gallery Catalogues: Online Entries for Individual Paintings, London 2024
Frame
This seventeenth-century Italian reverse-moulded frame is crafted from poplar wood. It retains its original ebonised glossy finish, accented with gilded fillets on the mouldings surrounding the frieze. The frieze features oil-gilded ornaments at the corners and the centres: at the corners are scrolling foliate motifs, and the centres have a daisy-like flower head. Both motifs are accentuated with dotted lines along their edges.
This frame was fitted to Gentileschi’s Self Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria in 2000.
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.
