Saint Mary Magdalene

Saint Mary Magdalene is here depicted with eyes raised heavenward, a sign of her devotion and penance. The Gospels describe Mary of Magdala as one of Christ's followers, a witness to his burial and resurrection. Mary Magdalene was later identified with another biblical figure, an unnamed woman understood to be a repentant prostitute - an identification which is almost certainly untrue.

Guido Reni has included the saint's typical attributes of a red cloak and long blonde hair. The nondescript background provides the painting with minimal narrative, suggesting perhaps that this was a work intended for quiet meditation.

The image of Mary Magdalene in penance was one of Reni's most frequently addressed subjects - the artist and his studio produced dozens of variants on the theme. This painting would appear to derive from one of the many full-length depictions of the saint in the wilderness painted by Reni and his studio in the 1620s and 1630s, one of which is today in the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Rome.

Credit: Bought, 1840