Lot 1149 Dα

The painting shows a half-figure depiction of Mary Magdalene with long blonde hair, shown gazing upwards and with her right hand held before her bare breast. The composition closely follows a painting by Guido Reni kept in the Byng collection in Wrotham Park, Herfordshire, which is dated mid 1630s (cf. D. Stephen Pepper: Guido Reni. L´opera completa. Novara 1988, p. 340, nr. 43, pl. XIII). The composition of this work - especially way the saint gazes towards the heavens - is based on Raphael's depiction of Saint Cecilia for the Church of San Giovanni in Monte in Bologna (Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna). The work left a lasting impression on the artists of the Bolognese school, and it inspired many of Reni's depictions of saints. The position of the arms is also reminiscent of Raphael's St. Catherine of Alexandria in the National Gallery in London. In this work, Reni has tranformed Raphael's turned figure into a frontal and monumental depiction of Mary Magdalene.
A number of Italian researchers have confirmed the attribution to Guido Reni and a member of his workshop, among them Emilio Negro (cf. his expertise), but also Mina Gregori, Nicosetta Roio, Andrea Emiliani und Massimo Pirondino (who all provided spoken confirmations to the owner) - whereby Emiliani and Pirondino also identified Giovanni Giacomo Sementi as co-author of the work alongside Reni. Pirondino also suggested an earlier date of 1620 to 1625, which would mean that this work was painted before that in the Byung collection.