# The Penitent Magdalene [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [MENGS, Anton Raphael]() - Date: 1751-1800 - Technique: Oil on canvas, 48 x 64 cm ## Commentary Anton Raphael Mengs painted this picture in 1752 in Rome, and it led to his admittance to the Accademia di San Luca. Later he tackled the subject on numerous occasions, and in very different ways. In this version elegance and an expression of great sensitivity are combined with reminiscences of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century painting, along with echoes of Classicism in the drapery and the landscape. The depiction of Mary Magdalene as a penitent does not appear in the Bible. It was not until the twelfth century that the legend arose of how she withdrew to a cave in Sainte-Baume in Provence in order to do penance after a life of sin. ## Related artworks - [Archduke Ferdinand and Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria]() - [Charles IV as Prince]() - [Double portrait]() - [Ecce Homo]() - [Ferdinand IV, King of Naples]() - [Glory of St Eusebius]() - [Judgment of Paris]() - [Jupiter and Ganymede]() - [Maria Luisa of Parma]() - [Maria Luisa of Parma]() - [Perseus and Andromeda \(detail\)]() - [Perseus and Andromeda]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()