Auction link: "Mary Magdalen in meditation" - Artemisia Gentileschi
The pre-auction estimate is 2 million - 3 million GBP (i.e. currently 2.53 million - 3.8 million USD). This market resolves YES if the final sale price listed on the Sotheby's website is >3 million USD.
Resolution details
Example from a past auction: this painting by Gentilesch has a "price realised" of USD 982,800. This is the equivalent number I will use—whatever is displayed by the auction page.
Note that the final listed sale price typically includes the buyer's premium (and potentially other fees).
If the lot is not put up for bidding at the auction for any reason, this market resolves N/A. If it is bid on at the auction, but does not ultimately sell, it resolves NO.
The sale price may be reported in GBP. If Christie's also reports a USD price, I will use that. Otherwise, I will use the Yahoo currency converter on the day I resolve the market.
Painting details
An incisive storyteller, Artemisia Gentileschi is known for her powerful depictions of women from history, and indeed her images of biblical heroines are among her most compelling creations. In this confidently painted work of the 1620s, a Caravaggesque realism is brought to this powerful subject. Barefoot, Mary Magdalen is depicted here in a rugged coastal setting that evokes the wilderness where she lived in solitude. With starkly contrasting areas of light and dark and showing a bold approach to the arrangement of its female subject, the picture makes reference to the saint’s sea voyage to the southern coast of France, where, according to legend, she sought refuge at Sainte-Baume in Provence. The Magdalen as protagonist is an important theme for Artemisia and one that constitutes a recurring thread in her work. (Lot essay)
1,000
3.00@traders R.I.P. My girl Artemisia got demolished, gathering just a few quick bids before selling at just 1.4M GBP. YIKES. (@jim can now surge to #1 on the all time art auctions leaderboard!! and @MichaelSavage 's skepticism was very much correct.)
LUCKILY, I can soothe my sorrows with a dope DINOSAUR AUCTION next week. PLACE YOUR BETS NOW
@Ziddletwix lol, glad I had second thoughts on this. I had a long and unproductive conversation with ChatGPT trying to price this
@Nightsquared AI will struggle - a poor picture in poor condition, which wouldn't be obvious from online sources. I was still unconfident because it's just a high-variance market.
@Ziddletwix This is mostly fandom and non-epistemic (although I don’t think the price is too bad? Dunno)
@Ziddletwix saw it at Sotheby's yesterday. I don't think it's a good picture & not worth the money. But I don't have the confidence to bet against Artimisia fans with money! The El Greco in NYC early Feb will be v interesting - not yet online.
@MichaelSavage that's awesome! have there been other recent artemisia paintings that have sold at auction? ($3M seems a fiar bit higher than most of what hers have sold for, so I kinda doubt it's gonna make it)
@Ziddletwix a lot of pictures are now being optimistically attributed to her, so auction records need to be treated with caution. The National Gallery London paid £3.6m for a smaller picture, another sold ~5m in Paris, and the Kimbell probably paid more for a recent purchase. This one is bigger than most recent sales, though to my eyes less attractive. It's really hard to know because she captures imagination as female artist, so you can't easily benchmark against comparable baroque pictures (which would imply a much lower price ). High uncertainty on this one, so I won't bet unless the odds move, or I get some insider information at the Sotheby's reception tomorrow ;-)
@MichaelSavage Ah that's helpful, thanks! I had seen some of the lower quality paintings sell for mid 6 figures, but hadn't looked into it to see that there was some muddy attribution there =)
Artemisia Gentileschi is one of my faves—highly recommend reading her Wikipedia page, very interesting life!