A Faceless Mary Magdalene by Artemisia Gentileschi Goes to Auction

The Viennese auction house Dorotheum has announced the sale of a rare, fragmented painting of Mary Magdalene by the Baroque master Artemisia Gentileschi. Dating from the artist's influential Florentine period (1615–1618), this autograph version of a work held in Palazzo Pitti is notably missing its central element: the head and shoulders of the saint have been physically cut from the canvas. Despite this dramatic mutilation, which experts speculate may have occurred in post-war Berlin, the work is estimated to fetch between €100,000 and €150,000 at the Old Masters auction on April 28, 2026.

This sale highlights the surging market demand and scholarly rediscovery of Gentileschi, whose works often command prices far exceeding estimates even when damaged or incomplete. Art historians Roberto Contini and Riccardo Lattuada have confirmed the attribution, noting that the missing portion paradoxically lends the piece a contemporary, dramatic power. The auction also features other significant works with complex histories, including a Giuseppe Maria Crespi copper painting and a pair of Franz Sigrist canvases recently restituted to the heirs of Jewish art dealers persecuted by the Nazis.