The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., has acquired its first painting by Baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi, titled *Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy* (ca. 1625). The work, once thought lost, resurfaced in a French private collection in 2011 and was sold at Sotheby's in 2014 for $1.1 million, setting a then-auction record for the artist.
This acquisition is significant as it brings a major work by Gentileschi, a figure who has gained immense mainstream and scholarly recognition in recent decades, into a premier U.S. museum collection. It reflects a continued institutional effort to deepen historical holdings with works by women artists and expands public access to a painter celebrated for her focus on female subjectivity and psychological depth, themes that resonate strongly in contemporary discourse.