Rediscovered Baroque masterpiece goes on display

A rediscovered Baroque masterpiece by Italian artist Artemisia Gentileschi has gone on display after centuries of being hidden from view. Painted around 1625, Penitent Mary Magdalene was considered lost until 2001, when it surfaced at a Paris auction before disappearing into a private collection. Gentileschi, a protégé of Caravaggio, achieved rare fame for a woman painter of her time, defying conventions to take biblical heroines, saints, and female figures from mythology as her subjects.

Unseen by the public since the 17th century, the painting is now on show at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas. “Nothing compares with seeing the newly rediscovered, emotive original in person,” museum director Eric Lee said.