The National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, has acquired Artemisia Gentileschi’s “Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy” (c. 1625). It’s the first work by the Italian Baroque artist to enter the institution’s collection. Eve Straussman-Pflanzer, curator and head of Italian and Spanish Paintings at the National Gallery of Art, stated in an email that the artist’s “strongest, and arguably most important” paintings were made in the early 1620s. She then emphasized the importance of conveying to the public that “women artists in the 17th-century were extremely accomplished.” “They were able to capture the power of human emotion and human experience — in this case religious conversion — and transmit it in a vivid and powerfully evocative picture that captures the complexity of human experience, especially that of a woman undergoing a profound emotional and mental change,” Straussman-Pflanzer continued. “This is Artemisia Gentileschi's gift.” To read the full story by rhea.nayyar, visit our link ...