Florentine school of the second half of the 17th century.

Florentine school of the second half of the seventeenth century.
"Portrait of lady as Mary Magdalene."
Oil on canvas. Relined.
Presents loss of paint in the upper left corner.
Measurements: 73,5 x 56 cm.

Maria Magdalene was a biblical figure extremely represented in baroque epoch, especially in the Italian painting of more sensualist roots. Here, a strong chiaroscuro models the soft features and the lush flesh of the saint. While Eastern Christianity honors Mary Magdalene especially 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. The theme of the Magdalene, moreover, offered the possibility of representing a beautiful woman who shows some parts of the anatomy then considered taboo, such as the feet or the breast, but who in her respects decorum in that she is mortified flesh expressing repentance for her past sins.