Felice Ficherelli
, Italian, 1605- c.1669
Title
Saint Mary MagdalenDatec.1640
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions
117 x 86 cm
Credit LineMilltown Gift, 1902
Object numberNGI.1707
Label TextThis painting may be compared with other Magdalens by Ficherelli. The Dublin Magdalen seems to have been painted from the same model as that for the half-length formerly in the Serristori Collection and now in the Piero Bigongiari Collection, Florence.A date of circa 1640 is tentatively suggested because one sees the beginnings of Ficherelli's interest in the languid females of his later paintings for private collectors. It was acquired by Joseph Leeson, later 1st Earl of Milltown, when on the Grand Tour of Italy. He would have regarded it more as an attractive painting of the nude, than an inspiring religious painting.