Spanish or Italian school; 18th century.

Spanish or Italian school; XVIII century.
"Magdalene penitent."
Oil on canvas.
It has perforations and flaws in the pictorial surface.
Measurements: 109 x 165 cm; 119 x 175 cm (frame).
Devotional image that shows us Mary Magdalene during her penitence in the desert. The scene is developed in an open landscape, but of great darkness that configures a scene of a great luminous dramatism, enveloping the protagonist in the darkness.
While Eastern Christianity especially honors Mary Magdalene for her closeness to Jesus, considering her "equal to the apostles", in the West the idea developed, based on her identification with other women in the Gospels, that before meeting Jesus she had dedicated herself to prostitution. Hence the later legend narrates that she spent the rest of her life as a penitent in the desert, mortifying her flesh. In art she was preferably represented in this way, especially in the 17th century, a time when Catholic societies felt a special fascination for the lives of mystics and saints who lived in solitude in wild places, dedicated to prayer and penance. Mary Magdalene is mentioned in the New Testament as a distinguished disciple of Christ. According to the Gospels, she housed and provided materially for Jesus and his disciples during their stay in Galilee, and was present at the Crucifixion. She was a witness of the Resurrection, as well as the one in charge of transmitting the news to the apostles. She is also identified with the woman who anointed Jesus' feet with perfumes before his arrival in Jerusalem, so her main iconographic attribute is a knob of essences, like the one shown here.