British National Gallery buys rare 17th century painting

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Britain's National Gallery (NG) announced on Friday that it had bought a 17th century Italian painting, one of a very small number of masterpieces created by a female artist.

The NG paid 3.6 million pounds (about 4.78 million US dollars) for the portrait by Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1656), who is regarded as one of the greatest painters of the Italian Baroque period.

Gentileschi's painting is a self portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria, done in oils from about 1615-17.

File of Britain's National Gallery. /VCG Photo

Letizia Treves, curator of later Italian 17th century paintings at the NG, told Xinhua that the painting was a very rare example of Gentileschi's work and had been bought privately from a French owner.

The painting had been unknown until its appearance at the Drouot auction house in Paris in December last year, when it emerged from a private family collection.

Gentileschi had been on the NG's wishlist of painters "for a long time", Treves said.

"We do not have a large number of paintings by women artists, because there weren't a large number of them. It's really wonderful to buy this, because it is a great picture in its own right by the best and most celebrated female painter of the 17th century."

"It is nice to redress the male-female balance a bit," Treves added.

A staff member examines the painting. /VCG Photo

The painting is currently undergoing examination and restoration, which Treves estimated would take six to nine months before it can be hung in public.

Gentileschi is considered one of the most accomplished painters among the followers of Michelangelo Caravaggio, whom she must have known personally through her father.

"Artemisia knew Caravaggio when she was a young girl and this picture is like a Caravaggio in its strong light and immediacy," said Treves.

Of the 60 or so paintings attributed to Gentileschi, the majority feature a strong female heroine as the main protagonist. Many of her paintings have been read as autobiographical and there is no doubt that her personal identity is closely intertwined with her works.

Source(s): Xinhua News Agency