Mary Magdalen renouncing worldly vanity,
oil on canvas, octagonal, 101.5 x 85.3 cm, framed

The present painting relates to another version traditionally identified as a Self-portrait of Artemisa Gentileschi with a Casket of Jewels in the Dashwood collection, West Wycombe, England. The Dashwood version was published as Artemisia Gentileschi (see M. Mosco, La Maddalena tra sacro e profano, in Florence, Palazzo Pitti, 1986, p. 155, fig. 2) and as Francesco Furini or Vincenzo Mannozzi (see R. Contini, Artemisia, eds. by R. Contini, G. Papi, Florence 1991, pp. 187-189) and by an artist in the circle of Angelo Caroselli (see R. Ward Bissel, Artemisia Gentileschi and the authority of art, pp. 340-341, under no. X35, fig. 232).

Another version of the present composition, also octagonal and of a similar size, was sold at Koeller in Zurich as Attributed to Artemisia Gentileschi (sale, Koeller, 23 March 2018, lot. 3096, oil on canvas, 95 x 77 cm, sold for 160,000 CHF). 

The female figure represented here is probably Mary Magdalen, depicted as an Allegory of Vanity. She turns away from the riches before her and appears to discard a handful of jewelry into the darkness behind her. She indicates a flower, presumably one that has fallen from the vase beside it, by an upturned jewelry casket.