(Bologna 1629–1700)
The penitent Mary Magdalene accompanied by an angel playing a violin behind,
oil on canvas, 145.5 x 110 cm, unframed

Provenance:
(possibly) Cardinal Fabrizio Spada Veralli, Rome (1643–1717);
(possibly) Galleria Spada, Rome, before 1954;
art market, Rome, late 1950s;
where acquired by the family of the present owner

Documented (according to literature):
(possibly) N. Baldelli, Protheo vagante ammiratore delle marauigliose opere dell’immortal pennello del Signore Lorenzo Pasinelli, Bologna 1691, p. 6;
(possibly) G. Zanotti, Nuovo fregio di gloria a Felsina sempre pittrice nella vita di Lorenzo Pasinelli pittor bolognese, Bologna 1703, p. 45

Literature:
(possibly) F. Zeri, La Galleria Spada in Roma: catalogo dei dipinti, Florence 1954, cited under cat. no. 132, p. 69 (una Maddalena oggi non rintracciabile);
C. Volpe, Un’altra Maddalena di Lorenzo Pasinelli, in: Arte Antica e Moderna, 1959, pp. 436-437, illustrated p. 438, pl. 184 (as Lorenzo Pasinelli);
R. Roli, in: Pittura bolognese (1650-1800): dal Cignani ai Gandolfi, Bologna 1977, p. 94, illustrated pl. 95b (as Lorenzo Pasinelli);
C. Baroncini, Ritrovate due opere di Lorenzo Pasinelli per il conte di Lippe: la Maddalena e il San Giovanni battista predicante alle turbe, in: Accademia Clementina, Bologna: Atti e Memorie, 1988, p. 51;
D. Benati, in: Disegni Emiliani del Sei-Settecento: come nascono i dipinti, ed. by D. Benati, Milan 1991, pp. 183-185 (as Lorenzo Pasinelli);
C. Baroncini, Lorenzo Pasinelli pittore (1629–1700), Faenza 1993, cat. no. 63, p. 304;
C. Baroncini, Vita e opere di Lorenzo Pasinelli (1629–1700), Faenza 2010, cat. no. 69, pp. 302-303 (as Lorenzo Pasinelli)

We are grateful to Daniele Benati for confirming the attribution of the present painting on the basis of a photograph.

Other variants of this composition by Pasinelli are known, among which the closest are the Magdalene in the collection of Prince Schaumburg-Lippe, Bückeburg, Westfalia, and another in the Exeter Collection, Burghley House, England (see op. cit. Baroncini, 2010, cat. nos. 68 and 62). Comparison with these works qualifies Zanotti’s statement regarding the variants Pasinelli introduced to his models: ‘Più di tutti replicò le Maddalene, nelle quali spesso introdusse un Angelo che suona il violino’ [‘More than any other he replicated the Magdalene, often introducing an Angel playing the violin’].

Nevertheless, it has been proposed that the present work may be the Mary Magdalene Pasinelli executed for Cardinal Fabrizio Spada Veralli (1643–1717) which was recorded as a lost work by Federico Zeri in his 1954 catalogue of the Galleria Spada and published for the first time by Carlo Volpe in 1959 (see literature).

Zanotti, the artist’s biographer, records that a painting of the Magdalene is mentioned in a letter of 28 December 1686 in reference to works commissioned from Pasinelli by Cardinal Spada: ‘Altro però non ebbe Sua Eminenza che una santa Maria Maddalena, ed una Sibilla, quantunque gli avesse ordinati due altri Quadri d’Istorie profane’ [‘His Eminence received nothing more than a Mary Magdalene, and a Sybille, despite having ordered two other Paintings of secular Histories’]. The former works were certainly delivered in 1687, thereby securing a possible date of execution for the present painting (see Baroncini in literature).

The present painting is related to the drawing by Pasinelli in the British Museum, London (see fig. 1). Here the two heads of the cherubs are included in the upper left and the Magdalene holds both the crucifix and the skull in her hands, as in the present painting. In the other known versions of the painting, these elements alternate and they are never present at the same time.