The Penitent Magdalene previously inscribed 1599
Oil on canvas | 186.2 x 160.6 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external) | RCIN 402730
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Mary Magdalene is stretched diagonally across the picture, leaning on a ledge of rock and resting her head on a skull. She clasps a crucifix and looks up from reading. She is swathed in drapery, which reveals her left leg and her shoulders and arms. Her golden-red hair is loose and flows down her back, framing both her face and the skull. The scene is set at night; the light of a vision appears above her head and in the sky behind is the moon.
There are traces of an inscription, which could have included a signature and possibly a date, on a stone by the bottom edge towards the right, but nothing is now legible. Nevertheless, this is a powerful picture and the traditional attribution to Palma Giovane has not been doubted. The general type is better matched in his numerous Penitent Saint Jeromes than in his other Magdalenes. Good comparative material is provided by the Triumph of David organ-shutters in the Chapel of S. Anastasio, S. Zaccaria, Venice, dated 1595, where the lighting and the vigorous treatment of hair and flesh are very similar.Provenance
In the collection of Charles I; recorded at Nonesuch Palace in 1639 as having been removed from St James's Palace (no 24); either the painting sold for £10 from Nonesuch to Edmund Harrison and others on 23 October 1651 (no 2), or the one sold to Remigius van Leemput on 26 March 1650 for £15 from Somerset House amongst paintings from Whitehall and St James's (no 199); recovered at the Restoration and listed in Store at Whitehall in 1666 (no 479)
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Creator(s)
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Medium and techniques
Oil on canvas
Measurements
186.2 x 160.6 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external)
207.5 x 182.9 x 7.5 cm (frame, external)
Category
Object type(s)