Probably by Correggio, 'The Magdalen', perhaps about 1518-19

Mary Magdalene leans on a large book and holds the pot of ointment with which she anointed Christ’s feet. According to legend, she retreated into the wilderness of Provence, in southern France, to avoid human contact. She lived there alone, unreachable by man, and was brought bread by angels who sang to her.

In her penitence in the wilderness she has abandoned all her jewels and finery and her hair is in disarray. She is a voluptuous penitent: her simple blue cloth has slipped down, revealing her breasts and reminding us of her past life when she was reputedly a prostitute. Correggio allows us to see her in this remote location where no one else can reach her. She turns to look at us, with one naked foot crossed over the other, as though we have just interrupted her reading. Her gaze is open and direct, meeting our eye in an intimate moment.

Correggio’s depiction of a full-length Mary Magdalene in a landscape is very original. She is seamlessly integrated into her wild setting, anchored in a cross shape formed by her limbs and the rocky ledge, in the centre of the composition. Correggio has depicted the ivy, dandelions and plants surrounding her in meticulous detail. The dandelion was associated with the bitterness of the Passion. Two of the flowers with ragged pale petals in the foreground appear to be pinks, which were also associated with the Passion. The other plants – such as evergreen ivy suggesting immortality – may have had similar associations with Christ.

This is probably a relatively early work by Correggio, but it is not in good condition. With her sweet face and fair hair, Mary Magdalene looks like Correggio’s Diana in his frescoes for the Camera di San Paolo (Chamber of Saint Paul) in a convent in Parma, painted in 1518–19. Her body also resembles Correggio’s nude Three Graces for the same room, and may have been painted around the same time. Several other versions of the composition are known, but this appears to be the best of them. A change made to the picture during painting has been considered as evidence that it is definitely an original by Correggio, but some regard it as a copy of a lost original.

As with many small early works by Correggio, there is not much information about the origins or history of this picture prior to the beginning of the last century. A painting by Correggio in the collection of King Charles I was described as Mary Magdalene ‘standing and leaning, being a little intire figure, which has been too much washed.’ (This means that the painting had been over-restored.) However, the description may have been referring to a slightly larger version of this picture.