Antique penitent Magdalene in a cave with an open book and a skull, oil in a moulded gilt frame

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18th Century Dutch School Oil on Wood Panel, Penitent Mary Magdalene with Vanitas, Wide Gilt Frame

Dutch School, early 18th century

Price $3,800 USD

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Room setting showing the framed painting hung on a green panelled wall above a lamp (18th century penitent Magdalene)

Detail of the head resting on the hand, eyes raised, with the loose hair falling over the shoulder

Detail of the opening in the rock to the right, showing the trees and pale sky beyond

The framed painting seen at an angle, showing the depth of the fluted gilt moulding

Detail of the skull resting against the stone at her side

Corner of the gilt frame showing the carved foliate ornament and the bead course

Reverse of the work in its frame, showing the back of the support and the frame construction (18th century penitent Magdalene)

The book is the brightest thing in the panel. Its open pages catch more light than her face, more than the sky in the gap of the cave, and everything else recedes into brown.

Oil on wood panel, 11 x 9 inches (28 x 23 cm), 18 x 16 inches (46 x 41 cm) framed, unsigned, Dutch School, first half of the eighteenth century, in a wide gilt frame with fluted moulding.

The Magdalene is shown half length in the mouth of a cave, her head resting on her hand and her eyes raised toward the light entering from the right. Her hair falls loose over her shoulders and down her back, and her chemise slips from one shoulder. An open book lies on the rock before her and a skull rests against the stone at her side. A crucifix is fixed to the rock behind her, barely visible in the shadow. To the right the cave opens onto a landscape of trees and a pale sky, the only bright passage in the picture.

A formula a century old
Every element here was fixed long before this panel was painted. The cave, the loose hair, the skull, the open book and the crucifix in shadow are the standing attributes of the penitent Magdalene, settled in the sixteenth century and repeated without change into the eighteenth. A buyer of this date was not looking for invention. He was buying a subject he already knew, painted on a panel small enough to keep at home.

The frame is a wide gilt profile with fluted sides, a bead course at the inner edge and carved foliate ornaments at the corners.

The panel carries losses to the paint layer and a small vertical split at the upper right, visible in the photographs. The frame has small gaps to the gilding.

Provenance ▾

Private collection, France

Artist

Dutch School, early 18th century

Period

First half of the 18th century (1700-1749)

Origin

Netherlands

Style

Baroque

Medium

Oil on wood panel

Signature

Unsigned

Frame

Wide gilt frame with fluted moulding, a bead course at the inner edge and carved foliate ornaments at the corners.

Features

Original, one of a kind, framed

Painting

11 x 9 inches (H x W)

Framed

18 x 16 inches

Condition

The panel is sound and flat. Paint layer losses and a small vertical split at the top right, visible in the photographs. Small gaps to the gilding of the frame.

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