Caravaggio
Patient Magdalen, 1597
oil on canvas
None of the usual religious signs such as a halo. A young girl seen from above is seated on a low stool in one of Caravaggio’s favourite cave-like settings with a triangle of light high up on the wall behind her. Discarded jewellery-a string of pearls clasps a jar(perhaps holding precious ointment)-lies on the floor. The girl’s hair is loose as if it has just been washed. Her costume consisting of a white-sleeved blouse a yellow tunic and a flowery skirt is rich.
ARTIST’ Bellori regards its title as an excuse.For him it is just a naturalistic portrayal of a pretty girl. This seems to show a wilful failure to understand Caravaggio’s intention or the wishes of the man who commissioned it.Monsignor Petrignani. The repenatant Mary-Magdalen was a favourite subject of Counter-Reformation art and poetry which valued the visible expression of the state of contrition-‘the gift of tears’.Caravaggio’s heroine is sobbing silently to herself and a single tear falls down her cheek. She is as it were poised between her past life of luxury and the simple life she will embrace as one of Christ’s most faithful followers. It is a sign of the painter’s skill that he makes this inner conflict moving at the same time as he makes its representation delectable’. The move from sensibility towards the ‘humble and pathetic’ was well taken for granted by Caravaggio by the time he painted this figure.
(Source: caravaggio.com)