Artemisia Gentileschi's Faceless St. Mary Magdalen Fragment Heads to Dorotheum Auction

A damaged replica of Artemisia Gentileschi's 'St. Mary Magdalen' (c. 1620), missing its central face, will be offered at Dorotheum's Old Master sale on April 28. The fragment, expected to bring $120,000 to $170,000, emerged from a private German collection in 2011 after being found rolled up in a cellar. Art historian Roberto Contini attributed the work to Gentileschi and included it in the 2011 exhibition 'Artemisia Gentileschi, the Story of a Passion' at Milan's Royal Palace. Fellow expert Riccardo Lattuada has endorsed the attribution, dating the piece to Gentileschi's early Florentine period following her traumatic rape trial. Infrared analysis confirms the pigments and artistic evolution align with Gentileschi's hand. Dorotheum specialist Marc MacDowell notes the alteration lends harrowing, contemporary power to the portrait. The fragment differs from the complete version in Florence's Palazzo Pitti: the fabric shows greater flourish, the mirror's position and Latin script are altered, the skull is absent, and the ointment jar is moved to the background. Dorotheum highlights the unusual nature of a major work appearing at auction with its central feature removed, contrasting with last spring's Christie's sale of a Gentileschi Galatea fragment for $428,400. The auction house suggests the face may have been cut out during postwar Berlin's chaos and looting.