Italian school, XVII century. Attributed to Giovanni Goseffo Sole.

Italian school, XVII century. Attributed to GIOVANNI GOSEFFO DAL SOLE (Bologna, 1654 - 1719).
"Mary Magdalene in the cave".
Oil on canvas.
Measurements: 48.5 x 38 cm; 63.5 x 53.5 cm (frame).

In this painting, surely intended for private devotion, represents Mary Magdalene praying inside a cave, before a skull, raising her gaze towards the divine light that enters the enclosure from the upper left corner. The space of the cave is dark and the light falls directly on Mary Magdalene. However, the monumental and sculptural figure, enhanced by a high point of view, already responds to an Italian influence more typical of the eighteenth century. On the other hand, the lighting is theatrical, characteristic of the Baroque style.

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 the feet of Jesus with perfumes before his arrival in Jerusalem, so her main iconographic attribute is a knob of essences, like the one shown here. In solitary, Mary Magdalene is usually represented as we see here, doing penance in the desert, repentant of her past sins, meditating on the Holy Scriptures. The story of this saint serves as an example of Christ's forgiveness, and conveys the message of the possibility of redemption of the soul through repentance and faith.

The son of a landscape painter, dal Sole was born in Bologna in 1654 and entered the studio of Domenico Canuti at a very young age, but in 1672, when his master moved to Rome, he remained in the studio of Lorenzo Pasinelli. Around 1674 dal Sole made his first commissions, some engraved portraits for Malvasia's book on the artists of Bologna, 'Felsina Pittrice', and several canvases, now lost, mentioned by the sources. Around 1680, dal Sole, established in his own workshop, began an independent activity which, in his early years, was directed mainly to fresco decorations. Examples of this activity were his works in Palazzo Giandemaria, in Parma, and in Palazzo Mansi, in Lucca (1686), where he worked in collaboration with Aldrovandini and Chiarini, also from Bologna, painters of mock architecture. In these works, dal Sole, shows an influence of Pasinelli's art, but it is already evident in his style a change of direction that takes him from the exuberant baroque of Canuti or Pasinelli to formulas of an archaic and refined classicism, in which there are Rhenish references and that links with the works of M.A. Franceschini, announcing the delicate and sensitive Bolognese rococo of Donato Creti. In 1692, dal Sole finished the frescoes of the dome of Santa Maria dei Poveri, perhaps his masterpiece. Numerous canvases of religious and mythological themes are preserved by the artist, which, like his frescoes, constitute a bridge between the full Baroque and Rococo styles.