Skip to main content

St. Mary Magdalene in the Wilderness

Artist/Maker (Italian, 1560–1609)
Date1603–05
MediumPen and brown ink, probably iron gall, on laid paper
DimensionsSheet: 4 × 7 5/16 in. (10.2 × 18.5 cm)
Credit LineR. T. Miller Jr. Fund
Object number1992.2
Status
Not on view
More Information
This is a compositional sketch for a painting by Annibale Carracci that is now lost, known through an engraving by Domenico Cunego (1727–1803). The experimental nature of the drawing is especially apparent in the depiction of the saint's left arm, which the artist has drawn variously as raised and across her torso. According to Cunego's print, the finished painting shows that the artist ultimately chose to position the saint's arm in an altogether different pose, with the arm raised and held out, the palm extended upwards horizontally. This sheet, which makes clear the creative process inherent in the act of drawing, once belonged to the English 18th-century history and portrait painter Sir Joshua Reynolds.
Exhibition History
European Master Drawings from the Allen Memorial Art Museum
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (October 29, 2002 - June 9, 2003 )
On Line: European Drawings, 16th-19th Centuries
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (September 18, 2007 - January 27, 2008 )
Picturing the Land
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (February 9, 2021 - August 13, 2021 )
Collections
  • European