St. Mary Magdalene in the Wilderness

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.