by Erika Gaffney, Art Herstory Founder

The year 2025 saw major new auction records set for art by women, both living and historic. Selling for US $13.6 million, Marlene Dumas’ Miss January became the most expensive artwork by a living female artist sold at auction. The price of US $57.4 million for Frida Kahlo’s El sueño (La cama) (The Dream (the Bed)) is the highest result ever for a work by a female artist.

These new records are big news. In light of these impressive figures paid for work by women of later periods, it would be easy to overlook the presence of early modern women in 2025 auctions. Yet last year, dealers did also offer paintings and drawings by women of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, sometimes with quite dramatic results. Let’s review how art by early modern women performed in the art market over the past 12 months.

Seven high-grossing works in 2025 auctions

Over the course of last year, Art Herstory’s monthly newsletter recorded sales of 25 artworks by 14 early modern women. The results for seven of these works—from six different artists—each surpassed the equivalent of US $400,000. In all cases but one, the actual price eclipsed the pre-sale estimate. We recount, in descending order by final price, the fortunes at auction in 2025 of these five paintings and two pastels on paper.

Artemisia Gentileschi, David with the Head of Goliath

Far and away the highest 2025 price at auction for a work by an early modern woman is David with the Head of Goliath, by Artemisia Gentileschi. Sotheby’s sold the work in July 2025 for £1,992,000, or just about US $2.7 million. This price represents more than twice the low end of the estimate of £1 million–£2 million. And it exceeds the painting’s previous sale price of €104,000 (with Hampel Fine Art, in 2018) by more than US $2.5 million. In the 2018 sale, the initial attribution was “School of Caravaggio”; the dealer changed it only at the last minute to Gentileschi. As Breeze Barrington reported for The Art Newspaper in last June, “The definitive attribution came in 2020 when, after extensive restoration and analysis, Simon Gillespie Studio found not only stylistic evidence for Artemisia’s hand but her signature, running down the blade from the hilt of David’s sword: ‘ARTEMISIA […] / FE[C]I[T] 16[…].'”

Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, Self-Portrait

On December 17, 2025, the auction house Tajan offered a pastel-on-paper self-portrait which Adélaïde Labille-Guiard created in 1782. The artwork, still in its original frame, fetched €843,800 (just about US $989,000), far exceeding the estimate range of €300,000–500,000 and setting a record for the artist. So far, so dramatic; but the drama doesn’t end there! According to Vittoria Benzine’s report for Artnet, “… as the gavel came down, a rogue bidder called out, claiming the 1782 work for the Palace of Versailles—utilizing a French law called droit de préemption, or the right of pre-emption.” A press release from Versailles calls the self-portrait “a work of exceptional importance.” The press release also states that the Palace of Versailles is preparing a monographic exhibition devoted to the artist.

Rosalba Carriera, Portrait of Coulson Fellowes (1696–1769)

Cheffins, a British auction house, sold Rosalba Carriera’s Portrait of Coulson Fellowes (1696–1769) in September 2025 for £400,000 (c. US $586,000; apparently £508,000 / c. US $693,000 with fees). The result is a world record for this artist; it smashed the projected result of £15,000–25,000. Coulson Fellowes, the sitter, visited Carriera’s Venetian studio while on the Grand Tour, which he undertook in 1723–1725. Her pastel portrait of him then remained in the possession of the Fellowes family for three centuries. The sale last September marked its first appearance on the market since Carriera created the artwork some 300 years ago. 

Catherine Lusurier, Portrait of a Young Artist

In May 2025, Christie’s offered Portrait of a Young Artist, by Catherine Lusurier. Experts don’t know much about the biography of this artist, who died in 1781 at the age of only 28. Only a few of her signed works survive. The sale price last May for Portrait of a Young Artist was US $478,800—nearly eight times the low end of the estimate range of US $60,000–80,000. Lusurier’s previous auction record was set by the same painting, which Sotheby’s sold in 1997 for US $160,000.

Maria van Oosterwyck, A Swag of Fruit, Berries and Flowers Hung in a Niche

The Christie’s December 2025 auction “Les Stern: une famille de collectionneurs” included A Swag of Fruit, Berries & Flowers Hung in a Niche, by Maria van Oosterwyck (also spelled Maria van Oosterwijck). The painting brought in €406,400, or c. US $475,000, just about quadrupling the low end of the pre-sale estimate of €100,000–150,000. Impressive though this price may be, it is not highest for a work by this artist. It ranks second to the 2011 Sotheby’s sale for c. US $1.4 million of Van Oosterwyck’s Still Life of Roses, Carnations, Marigolds and Other Flowers.

This historic woman artist’s impact in 2025 was not limited to the art market context. One of PEOPLE’s September 2025 “best books” picks is I Am You, a novel that features the Dutch flower painter as a protagonist. 

Diana de Rosa, Salome with the Head of Saint John the Baptist

The Sotheby’s July 2025 “Old Master and 19th Century Paintings Evening Auction” included Salome with the Head of Saint John the Baptist, by Diana de Rosa (also known as Diana di Rosa, Annella di Massimo). The result was £317,500, or c. US $430,000, more than five times the low end of the pre-sale estimate of £60,000–80,000. According to Jo Lawson-Tancred’s report for Artnet, “De Rosa’s prices are certainly headed upward. Sotheby’s sale of Salome doubled her previous auction record of €128,000 ([US] $134,836), which was set by another unpublished painting, Samson and Delilah, in 2021 at Dorotheum auction house in Vienna. More recently, in the spring of 2023, the same auction house sold the painting Saint Cecilia for €39,000 ([US] $43,093).” The latter painting, now in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, is currently on display in the Gallerie d’Italia exhibition Donne nella Napoli spagnola. Un altro Seicento.

Artemisia Gentileschi, Galatea—A Fragment

Among the seven highest-grossing artworks we know of in 2025 by early modern women, Artemisia Gentileschi is the only repeat artist. In May 2025, a couple of months before Sotheby’s offered her David with the Head of Goliath (which heads this list), Christie’s sold Gentileschi’s Galatea – a fragment, for US $428,000. The estimate range was US $50,000–70,000. Recently rediscovered, the fragment belongs to the artist’s Neapolitan corpus. It is not the only fragment attributed to Artemisia Gentileschi to come to market in 2025. Last October, Capitolium in Brescia offered the painter’s Samaritan Woman with an estimate of €20,000–30,000 (the relatively low figure is due to the work’s condition). But to the best of our knowledge, as of the end of 2025 the work had not yet sold.

Still more early modern women in 2025 auctions

The seven paintings and drawings we list above generated the highest sale prices we know of in 2025 for works by female artists of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. But they were not the only artworks by early modern women to change hands last year. Here we present—by artist, with repeat appearances by Gentileschi and Carriera—other relevant 2025 auction outcomes:

Mary Beale

• Self-portrait, half-length, in a painted stone cartouche garnered £38,100 (c. US $51,000), within the estimate range of £30,000–40,000
• Portrait of a gentleman, traditionally identified as James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, 1st Duke of Buccleuch (1649–1685) sold for £19,050 (c. US $25,500), exceeding the estimate range of £7,000–10,000

Marie-Geneviève Bouliard

• Portrait of a young boy, wearing a white dress and a red gilet brought in £6,350 (c. US $8,500), within the estimate range of £5,000–7,000

Orsola Maddalena Caccia

• Pears and oleander on a tazza sold for €91,000 (c. US $106,000), at the low end of the estimate range of €80,000–120,000
• The result for A tazza with figs, a daffodil and tulips, on a wooden ledge was €59,400 (c. US $69,000), just below the low end of the estimate range of €60,000–80,000
• Madonna suckling the Child went for €24,700 (c. US $29,000), within the estimate range of €20,000–30,000
• The vision of Saint Anthony of Padua (with an assistant; Angela Bettera?) fetched €11,700 (c. US $14,000), toward the low end of the estimate range of €10,000–15,000

Rosalba Carriera

• Tête de femme tourné de trois quarts, les yeux levés au ciel sold for €78,000 (c. US $91,000), significantly higher the estimate range of €8,000–12,000

Barbara Regina Dietzsch

• Floral arrangement of rose, morning glory and lily brought in €14,000 (c. US $16,000), more than double the low end of the estimate range of €6,000–8,000
• Dandelion with nocturnal moth fetched €9,000 (c. US $10,500), just above the high end of the estimate range of €6,000–8,000

Artemisia Gentileschi

• The result for The sleeping Christ Child was €91,813 (c. US $107,000); the estimate range was €80,000–120,000

Angelica Kauffman

• Portrait of Anne Stewart, née Dashwood, Countess of Galloway brought in US $65,520; the estimate range was US $30,000–50,000
• Portrait of Lady Anne Simpson, née Lyon (1746–1821), c. 1773 fetched €28,250 (c. US $33,000), toward the high end of the estimate range of €20,000–30,000
• A young lady reading garnered CHF 24,000 (c. US $30,000), slightly below the low end of the estimate range of CHF 25,000–35,000
• The result for The Holy Family with John the Baptist as a boy sold for CHF 15,000 (c. US $19,000), at the low end of the estimate range of CHF 15,000–25,000

Barbara Longhi

• Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine of Alexandria sold for US $12,700, at the low end of the estimate range of US $12,000–15,000

Clara Peeters

• The result for Still life with fish, prawns and oysters was CHF 70,000 (c. US $81,500), at the low end of the estimate range of CHF 70,000–100,000

Katherine Read

• A musical party went for £5,715 (c. US $7,700), below the low end of the estimate range of £6,000–8,000

The outlook for 2026

Inventory of art by early modern women is obviously and necessarily limited. Nevertheless, as this post makes clear, the presence of female makers from c. 1700–1900 is still felt in today’s art market. As early as next month, Christie’s and Sotheby’s will offer paintings by Artemisia Gentileschi and Elisabetta Sirani, respectively. We watch with interest to learn what other centuries-old artworks by women will arrive on the auction block in 2026.

Erika Gaffney is Founder of Art Herstory. Follow Erika on Bluesky, LinkedIn and Facebook.

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Museum Exhibitions about Historic Women Artists: 2026

A Year for Dutch and Flemish Women Artists

Finding Catherine Read, by Adam Busciakiewicz

The Priceless Legacy of Artemisia Gentileschi: A Curator’s Perspective, by Judith W. Mann

Angelica Kauffmann: Grace and Strength, by Anita V. Sganzerla

Historic Women Artists in Public Collections: The Kimbell Art Museum, by Olivia Turner

Suor Orsola Maddalena Caccia (1596–1676), Convent Artist, by Angela Ghirardi

Portrayals of Mary Magdalene by Early Modern Women Artists, by Diane Apostolos-Cappadona

Angelica Kauffman: Art, Music and Poetry, by Ellice Wu

Two of a Kind: Giovanna Garzoni and Artemisia Gentileschi, by Mary D. Garrard

Female Solidarity in Paintings of Judith and her Maidservant by Italian Women Artists, by Sivan Maoz

Plautilla Nelli and the Workshop of Santa Caterina in Cafaggio, by Alessia Motti

Roma Pittrice: Women Artists at Work in Rome Between the Sixteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, by Alessandra Masu