(Camerano 1625–1713 Rome) Mary Magdalene, oil on canvas, 94 x 73 cm, framed

The present painting is an autograph variant, with substantial alterations in the figure, of the Mary Magdalene Carlo Maratta presumably painted for Monsignore Niccolò del Giudice, a Roman collector coming from a noble Neapolitan family. In those days, Maratta was the most important painter in Rome and one of the best-paid artists in Europe. According to Dr. Stella Rudolph, it cannot be excluded that the present painting, due to its high quality, is the prototype on which Maratta based the larger version for Monsignore Nicolò del Giudice, in which the figure is seated on a stone bench. Dr. Rudolph praises the present painting’s pristine condition: the original canvas (prima tela) has survived, and also the stretcher and the iron nails are original. The delicate, spontaneous brushwork, rich in pigments, is clearly recognizable. On the reverse side, in the upper left corner, the canvas bears a red wax seal with the crown of the House of Savoy and the inscription ‘CONSERVAT. DEI MONUMENTI DI BELLE ARTI’. This suggests that the painting was preserved in Italy during the last decades of the 19th century and had probably been entrusted to the Ministry of Fine Arts (Belle Arti) to be inspected for an exhibition or export permission. Certificate: Dr. Stella Rudolph, 8 October 2008. Provenance: international private collection.