Neither saint nor sinner, Artemisia Gentileschi’s Mary Magdalene is electrifyingly alive

Soon to go on display at the National Gallery of Art in DC, it took a female artist to portray the biblical figure not as shamed and repentant but in the throes of ecstatic raptureA woman knocks her head back. Her eyes and mouth are closed but she is awake. With flushed cheeks, r...