The Penitent Magdalen
attributed to Bartolomeo Guidobono (1654 - 1709)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1600 - 1699
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1100 x 630 mm
Place of origin
Italy
Order this imageCollection
Nostell Priory, West Yorkshire
NT 959437
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, The Penitent Magdalen, attributed to Bartolommeo Guidobono (1654-1709), 17th century. The Magdalen is nude to the waist, her lower body swathed in blue drapery. Her head rests on her right hand and gazes she upwards. A skull and white drapery is by her right side. The crucifixion can be seen in a landscape beyond. This painting came to Nostell in the 19th century, through the flower painter James Hewlett, when it was thought to be an original by the 17th century Italian master, Guido Reni. Hewlett married Miss Hill, governess to Charles Winn's eldest daughter, Emma, who left this and several other pictures to Miss Winn after her death. Several watercolour paintings by Hewlett hang in the Drawing Room at Nostell Priory. The painting shows the reformed courtesan, Mary Magdelene, who anointed Christ's feet and came to encapsulate the figure of the repentant sinner in Christian art. She is shown with a skull, to symbolise the transience of life on earth, and a crucifix in the background.
Provenance
Came to Nostell in the 19th century, through the flower painter James Hewlett, when it was thought to be an original by the 17th century Italian master, Guido Reni. Hewlett married Miss Hill, governess to Charles Winn's eldest daughter, Emma, who left this and several other pictures to Miss Winn after her death; purchased from the Lord St. Oswald by private treaty sale 21st December 2010.
Credit line
Nostell Priory, The St Oswald Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
attributed to Bartolomeo Guidobono (1654 - 1709) , artist previously catalogued as attributed to Guido Reni (Bologna 1575 – Bologna 1642), artist
References
Brockwell 1915 Maurice Walter Brockwell, Catalogue of the Pictures and Other Works of Art in the Collection of Lord St Oswald at Nostell Priory, London 1915, cat. no. 267