Artemisia Gentileschi's 'Maddalena Sursock' arrives in Milan for restoration

Artemisia Gentileschi's 'Maria Maddalena' (1630-1631), known as the Maddalena Sursock, has arrived in Milan from Beirut. The painting, part of the Sursock Palace Collection, was damaged in the Beirut port explosion on August 4, 2020, and bears visible shrapnel marks and holes. It will be restored after the exhibition 'Le Signore dell'arte. Storie di donne tra '500 e '600' at Palazzo Reale, which was previewed to the press but never opened to the public due to COVID-19 lockdowns in Lombardy. The exhibition, now accessible via virtual Zoom tours, features over 130 works by 34 female artists including Artemisia Gentileschi, Sofonisba Anguissola, Lavinia Fontana, Elisabetta Sirani, and Giovanna Garzon. The Maddalena Sursock was recently attributed to Gentileschi through a Sorbonne doctoral thesis by Gregory Buchakjian, confirmed by scholar Riccardo Lattuada. Lattuada describes the painting's golden yellow and ultramarine tones, dramatic chiaroscuro, and the saint's ecstatic gaze as characteristic of Gentileschi's Neapolitan period. The Sursock family is one of Lebanon's most aristocratic, with ties to the Colonna of Rome and the Serra di Cassano of Naples.