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Mary Magdalene is presented in Christian teaching as a beautiful prostitute who turned to Christ and rejected her former life of sin. From the 1500s through the 1800s, images of a penitent (regretful and self-chastising) Magdalene were very popular as a morally uplifting subject of paintings intended for Christian homes. Painters sometimes depict her as modestly dressed and in sober meditation (as can be seen nearby in the 17th-Century Gallery) or, as here, in an emotion-filled moment of physical privation in a wilderness. Here the result is calculatedly erotic, surely intended both to excite the male purchaser and to inspire devotion and penance. With her breast exposed to accentuate her vulnerability as well as sexuality, she kneels in a dark isolated setting that exudes danger. For more information on this painting, please see Federico Zeri's 1976 catalogue no. 441, p. 552.
Page data
- Page
- 1
- Source index
- 0
- Type
- photo
- Media ID
- ce0d8417b4c7db76
- Size
- unknown
Document data
- ID
- 19320
- Core
- obj
- Type
- drawing
DTO data
{
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"contentType": "drawing",
"stage": "normalized",
"title": "The Penitent Magdalene",
"description": "Mary Magdalene is presented in Christian teaching as a beautiful prostitute who turned to Christ and rejected her former life of sin. From the 1500s through the 1800s, images of a penitent (regretful and self-chastising) Magdalene were very popular as a morally uplifting subject of paintings intended for Christian homes. Painters sometimes depict her as modestly dressed and in sober meditation (as can be seen nearby in the 17th-Century Gallery) or, as here, in an emotion-filled moment of physical privation in a wilderness. Here the result is calculatedly erotic, surely intended both to excite the male purchaser and to inspire devotion and penance. With her breast exposed to accentuate her vulnerability as well as sexuality, she kneels in a dark isolated setting that exudes danger. For more information on this painting, please see Federico Zeri's 1976 catalogue no. 441, p. 552.",
"provenance": "Don Marcello Massarenti Collection, Rome [date and mode of acquisition unknown] [1897 catalogue: no. 276, as Rondoni]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1902, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.",
"date": "ca. 1730 (Baroque)",
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"language": "en",
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"dimensionsRaw": "Framed H: 42 3/4 × W: 35 3/4 × D: 3 in. (108.59 × 90.81 × 7.62 cm); Painted surface H: 32 1/16 x W: 24 15/16 in. (81.4 x 63.4 cm)"
}
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Document identity
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"label": "The Penitent Magdalene",
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Document source metadata
{
"id": "19320",
"sourceUrl": "https://purl.thewalters.org/art/37.1166",
"contentType": "drawing",
"stage": "normalized",
"title": "The Penitent Magdalene",
"description": "Mary Magdalene is presented in Christian teaching as a beautiful prostitute who turned to Christ and rejected her former life of sin. From the 1500s through the 1800s, images of a penitent (regretful and self-chastising) Magdalene were very popular as a morally uplifting subject of paintings intended for Christian homes. Painters sometimes depict her as modestly dressed and in sober meditation (as can be seen nearby in the 17th-Century Gallery) or, as here, in an emotion-filled moment of physical privation in a wilderness. Here the result is calculatedly erotic, surely intended both to excite the male purchaser and to inspire devotion and penance. With her breast exposed to accentuate her vulnerability as well as sexuality, she kneels in a dark isolated setting that exudes danger. For more information on this painting, please see Federico Zeri's 1976 catalogue no. 441, p. 552.",
"provenance": "Don Marcello Massarenti Collection, Rome [date and mode of acquisition unknown] [1897 catalogue: no. 276, as Rondoni]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1902, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.",
"date": "ca. 1730 (Baroque)",
"citationUrl": "https://purl.thewalters.org/art/37.1166",
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}
Document source extras
{
"inscriptions": "[Inscription] Name on stretcher: Francesco Maria Rondani",
"med": "oil on canvas",
"creator_ids": [
"33562"
],
"collection_ids": [
"BAR"
],
"exhibition_ids": []
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Page context
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