(Florence 1492–1544)
Mary Magdalene between two putti,
oil on canvas, 69 x 46 cm, framed

Provenance:
Dan Fellows Platt collection, Englewood, New Jersey;
sale, Christie’s, Paris, 24 June 2004, lot 66 (as follower of Fra Bartolommeo);
Private collection, France;
where purchased by the present owner

Exhibited:
New York, Wildenstein Gallery, Exhibition of Italian Paintings, January-February 1947, no. 17 (as ‘Fra Bartolommeo, The Assumption of Saint Mary Magdalen’);
Vancouver, Art Gallery, Loan exhibition: Italian Renaissance, 17 November - 13 December 1953, no. 10;
New York, Wildenstein Gallery, Religious Paintings, 1962, no. 29 (as ‘Fra Bartolommeo’)

Literature:
A. de Bles, How to distinguish the Saints in Art by their costumes, symbols, and attributes, New York, 1925, p. 105, no. 4, illustrated (as Bachiacca, ‘St. Mary Magdalen’);

B. Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance, Oxford 1932, p. 47 (as Fra Bartolommeo, ‘Mary of Egypt’);

B. Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: Florentine School, London 1963, vol. 2.1, p. 200 (as an early work by Giovanni Antonio Sogliani, ‘Ecstasy of St. Mary Magdalen’ or ‘St. Mary of Egypt’);

. Nikolenko, Francesco Ubertini called il Bacchiaca, New York 1966, p. 83 (under ‘false attributions’, ‘St. Mary of Egypt’)

The present painting is registered in the Fototeca Zeri (no. 34613) as Giovanni Antonio Sogliani.

Sogliani was mainly active in Florence and the surrounding areas and he studied with Lorenzo di Credi, and often combined a typically devotional tone with simple compositions. In 1515, he opened his own workshop and started developing his personal style, which was also influenced by Fra Bartolomeo and Andrea del Sarto. Between the late 1520s and the mid-1530s, he produced paintings for the Duomo in Pisa such as a Madonna with Child and Saints, previously commissioned to Perin del Vaga, and a Lady of Graces and Saints, which was started by Andrea del Sarto. His fresco wofe San Domenico was painted in 1536 in the refectory of the convent of San Marco in Florence, is also celebrated and considered to be his masterpiece. The style, inspired by models from the previous century, was probably imposed on the artist by the Dominican commissioner.

The woman portrayed here, a penitent sinner, is Saint Mary Magdalene. This is evidenced by the typical long flowing locks covering her body and her face which is marked by the fasting that characterised the later part of her life which she spent in prayer and solitude.

Technical analysis
The canvas is thin and very dense, at more than 30 x 30 threads/cm, which is sometimes, but not commonly found in canvases of this period.

IR reflectography reveals a contour underdrawing which was made with a thin brush and can be seen in the figures.

Among the pigments employed in the present painting, azurite has been used in the sky, the clouds and the angels’ wings. Azurite has been mixed with a carmine type red lake to depict the dark blue of the clouds under the feet of the figures and the wings. Other pigments used include vermillion, lead-based yellow and ochre.

A few changes can be detected, for example the position of Maddalena’s eyes, which were originally lower. 

We are grateful to Gianluca Poldi for the technical examination.