PB 501

Unità di misura: cm; Altezza: 97; Larghezza: 73

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The painting is an early work by Strozzi, dating from before his move to Venice, and can be dated to around 1620. It depicts Mary Magdalene, shown in half-length with her face in profile and her torso in three-quarter view, praying with her hands clasped towards a cross, from which a light seems to emanate. Her emaciated face betrays the long period of penance she spent in the desert, while her open mouth reveals her spiritual tension. The hands have been recognised as being directly derived from Albrecht Dürer's famous 1508 drawing, now preserved in the Albertina in Vienna, depicting a pair of hands clasped in prayer. (LUIG in Berlin 2003, p. 124) The painting depicts Mary Magdalene in penitence, engaged in prayer.