Each year Art Herstory offers a new holiday card design, which features (of course!) a work by a historic woman artist. Our recent holiday cards reproduce art by 19th- or 20th-century artists; in many cases, the theme is botanical.
This year, for the image on our eighth holiday card, we turn back to early modernity, and back to a religious theme. The 2026 holiday card reproduces a spectacular Adoration of the Magi, reattributed as recently as 2021 to Fede Galizia (c. 1578–c. 1630). It is the first work by Galizia to appear in the Art Herstory stationery line.
Art Herstory could not have created this holiday card without invaluable assistance from Antonio Ernesto Denunzio, Deputy Director, Gallerie d’Italia–Napoli, and from the team at Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte. We are also grateful for the thoughtfulness of the Art Herstory fan whose unsolicited donation covered the art acquisition/permission fee. Heartfelt thanks to everyone who collaborated to bring the card to fruition!
Who was Fede Galizia?
Facts about the Northern Italian painter’s life are thin on the ground. Her father Nunzio Galizia, a miniaturist and metalworker, trained her. Nunzio Galizia was from Trent; it is possible that his daughter was born there. At some point he moved to Milan, the city where Fede principally lived and worked. Fede Galizia’s earliest known paintings date to her teenager years. From as early as the 1590s her talent was recognized by her contemporaries; in their writings, such figures as Gian Paolo Lomazzo and Paolo Morigia praise the young artist. There is no record of her ever having married. She made a will in 1630; scholars speculate that shortly thereafter, she succumbed to the plague.
Of the 60-some Fede Galizia paintings still in existence, about two-thirds are fruit still lifes. Galizia was one of the first Italian painters to specialize in the genre. But her oeuvre is diverse, extending beyond still life paintings. She rendered portraits with precision and striking realism; her meticulous treatment of textures stands out. She created religious paintings on themes from both the Old and New Testaments, and she was commissioned to produce several altarpieces—including the Adoration of the Magi—for Milanese churches.
Galizia’s Adoration of the Magi—the backstory
Early in the 17th century, Baldassare Noirot commissioned Fede Galizia to paint Adoration of the Magi (c. 1610) for the Chapel of the Magi in the Church of Sant’Anna dei Lombardi in Naples. Noirot was a wealthy Flemish merchant who had relocated to Naples.
According to a May 2026 article in the online venue inItaly, the painting “has been part of the Bourbon collections for over two centuries but had not previously been exhibited in this palace [the building that houses Museo di Capodimonte]. The painting’s story is one of rediscovery: over time it was moved, misattributed and thought lost, until recent research confirmed its attribution to the female artist in 2021.”
Research by Federico Maria Giani, published in the catalog of the 2021 exhibition Fede Galizia: Mirabile Pittoressa in Trent, confirmed the presence of the Adoration at the Convent of San Pasquale a Chiaia, Naples. Late in 2025, the painting featured in the exhibition Donne nella Napoli spagnola. Un altro Seicento at Gallerie d’Italia–Naples.
As of Spring 2026, the painting is installed in Room 79 on the second floor of Museo di Capodimonte.
Card details
Art Herstory holiday cards are larger than Art Herstory note cards. They are A7 format (5×7″). They are available for sale in a 10-pack with holiday-red envelopes, or as individual cards (with matching envelopes) in an eco-friendly clear sleeve. The inside sentiment for the 2026 card reads “Buon Natale / Merry Christmas.”
A mixed Adoration 12-pack!
As we mention above, the 2026 card is the first Art Herstory card to feature an artwork by Fede Galizia. However, it is not our first card to feature an Adoration of the Magi painting by an early modern woman. We are therefore now able to offer a mixed boxed set of 12 Adoration of the Magi cards! This set includes six cards each two Art Herstory cards that reproduce paintings with the Adoration of the Magi theme: we pair the new Fede Galizia card with our Adoration of the Magi card that reproduces Artemisia Gentileschi’s rendition of the theme.
To order Art Herstory holiday cards online, visit the online Art Herstory Shop, or our Etsy store.
Art Herstory Christmas cards from previous years are still available:
Poincetha and Calla Lily, by Clarissa Munger Badger (American, 1806–1889)
Madonna and Child, by Marianne Stokes (Austrian-born British, 1855–1927)
Christmas Roses, by Florence Westwood Whitfield (British, active 1879–1925)
American holly / Ilex opaca, by Mary Morris Vaux Walcott (American, 1860–1940)
The Nativity of Christ, by Orsola Maddalena Caccia (Italian, 1596–1676)
Adoration of the Magi, by Artemisia Gentileschi (Italian, 1593–c.1654)
E. F. Seedling Amaryllis 1819, by Priscilla Susan Bury (British, 1799–1872)
More Art Herstory posts you might enjoy:
Art Herstory’s Fede Galizia resource page
In defense of monographic exhibitions of female artists: The case of Fede Galizia, by Camille Nouhant
Art Herstory Note Card Wallets
Announcing Art Herstory’s 2025 Holiday Card: Poinsettia and Calla Lily
New Art Herstory Note Card Designs for 2025
The Art Herstory 2024 Holiday Card: Madonna and Child, c. 1909
