Workshop of Guido Reni, Penitent Magdalene, 1650, Oil on Canvas

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Description

Penitent Magdalene - Workshop of Guido Reni (Bologna, 1575 – Bologna, 1642)

Oil on canvas

112 x 89 cm.
Framed … Read more Penitent Magdalene - Workshop of Guido Reni (Bologna, 1575 – Bologna, 1642)

Oil on canvas

112 x 89 cm.
Framed 130 x 108 cm.

The protagonist of the work is a seductive Saint Mary Magdalene, recognizable by her essential beauty, her loose clothing, a reminder of her sinful past, and her long, loose hair with blond highlights that falls to her shoulders.

She is depicted in a penitent pose, her hands delicately clasped in prayer, absorbed in meditation, and her gaze filled with emotion, evoking repentance, as she gazes at a cross made from a branch flanked by a skull, typical symbols of her iconography.

She is wrapped in a softly draped robe, simple yet powerfully feminine, in a perfect balance between the sinner's sensuality and her spiritual asceticism.

Although our Magdalene immediately evokes the famous composition by Anton Raphael Mengs (Aussig, 1728 - Rome, 1779), now housed at the Prado Museum in Madrid**, it is not actually a contemporary work or one associated with the same master, but a beautiful 17th-century painting.

Mengs's version, as is easily seen, dates back to the mid-18th century and follows a style anchored in the precepts of Neoclassicism. Compared to the 17th century, the painting is less contrasting and the features are noticeably softened by a clear, sharp, and diffused light. Neoclassical painting, in fact, aimed for perfect and sublime beauty, drawing inspiration from the examples of classical antiquity.

As noted in the Prado catalog, Mengs used a lost 17th-century work, then considered to be by the hand of the greatest exponent of Bolognese classicism, Guidi Reni, later attributed to his pupil Giovan Gioseffo Dal Sole (1654/1719).

This practice of "artistic dialogue between centuries" was widespread in Neoclassicism: for example, Pompeo Bartoni, for his famous Magdalene Reclining and Intent on Reading, had also based his work on a famous prototype by Correggio, also lost.

Returning to our painting, we are therefore inclined to attribute its execution to a skilled Baroque painter active in the seventeenth century, specifically a follower or pupil of Guido Reni, whose workshop produced numerous representations of the Penitent Magdalene; Among these are the famous painting in Palazzo Barberini or the one in the Quimper Musée de Beaux Arts, both by Reni himself; the Penitent Mary Magdalene attributed to Giovan Gioseffo Dal Sole (Palazzo Pellegrini a Santa Cecilia, Verona, and finally, Saint Mary Magdalene Adoring the Crucifix by Luca Ferrari, another student of Reni.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

The work is sold with a beautiful frame and comes with a certificate of authenticity and an iconographic . This piece is attributed to the mentioned designer/maker. It has no attribution mark and no
official proof of authenticity,
however it is well documented in design history. I take full responsibility for any authenticity



issues arising from misattribution See less