Artemisia Gentileschi was among the most important painters working in 17th-century Italy. This picture’s signature, “Arte. GentilescA / fecit Napo,” emphasizes two aspects of the artist’s identity: her gender and her geographic location. It must have been one of the first works that Gentileschi painted upon arriving in Naples in 1630, where she spent most of the rest of her life. Documents reveal that she made small works on copper throughout her career, but this is only the third to emerge. It therefore represents an important but lesser-known facet of Gentileschi’s production.

Oil on copper.

Charles Potter Kling and Beth Munroe Fund.

2022.102