Granada school; c. 1700.

Granada School; c. 1700.
"Mary Magdalene consoled by the angels".
Oil on canvas. Relined.
It has a frame of the nineteenth century.
It presents faults in the pictorial surface.
Measurements. 82 x 105 cm; 89 x 112 cm (frame).
This painting, representative of the Granada school of the XVIII century, displays with remarkable delicacy and emotion the scene of Mary Magdalene consoled by the angels, a theme deeply rooted in the baroque spirituality. The pictorial technique reveals an expert hand in the use of chiaroscuro, with soft light transitions that accentuate the texture of the canvases and the drama of the scene. The warm colors, dominated by ochers, earths and golds, are characteristic of the Granada school, heir to the tenebrist naturalism of Alonso Cano and Pedro Atanasio Bocanegra, but already tinged by a more emotional and devotional sensibility.
The representation of Mary Magdalene in penitent attitude and consoled by angels was a motif of great diffusion during the Counter-Reformation, and in the 18th century in Granada it acquired a particularly introspective and mystical nuance. This image synthesizes two key aspects of Catholic iconography: repentance as a way of salvation and the divine consolation offered to the contrite soul. Magdalene, a complex and deeply human figure, embodies the ideal of redemptive forgiveness, a theme that was widely echoed in Andalusian Baroque religiosity, especially in monastic and brotherhood environments.