Stolen identity: Iconic artworks you didn’t know were painted by women

Art history has long overlooked the contributions of women, with many of their works wrongly attributed to men—a result of systemic bias, forced anonymity, or institutional exclusion. A recent BBC Culture feature highlights how several iconic artworks were either misattributed or overshadowed by male counterparts, only to be rediscovered long after their creation. (unsplash)

Judith Slaying Holofernes: By Artemisia Gentileschi, this powerful painting was long attributed to male artists like her father before her authorship was fully recognised. (wikimedia commons)

Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy: Another work by Gentileschi that was misattributed to male painters for years, reflecting how women artists were often overlooked. (wikimedia commons)

Portrait of Charlotte du Val d'Ognes: Painted by Marie-Denise Villers, it was mistakenly attributed to Jacques-Louis David for years. (wikimedia commons)

Big Eyes paintings: These iconic paintings were created by Margaret Keane but credited to her husband until she proved her authorship in court. (wikimedia commons)

The Last Supper: Created by Plautilla Nelli, this monumental piece was long ignored or assumed to be by a male artist due to its scale. (wikimedia commons)

The Triumph of Bacchus: The Triumph of Bacchus, once owned by Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria, is a painting so enormous and ambitious that in the early 1900s, Gustav Glück, curator of Flemish painting at the Kunsthistorisches Museum, declared that it could never be the work of a woman. However, it was credited later to it's rightful creator, many years later, Michaelina Wautier.