That once has fallen, redeem herself! In truth,
There be few men, methinks, could do as much.
Correggio, Act i. Scene 1.
I do not know why this lovely Manfrini picture should be so much less celebrated than the Dresden Magdalene: while the latter has been multiplied by copies and engravings, I do not remember a single print after the Manfrini Magdalene. There is a bad feeble copy in the Louvre;[299] I know no other.
2. There is a celebrated picture by Timoteo della Vite, in the Bologna Gallery. She is standing before the entrance of her cavern, arrayed in a crimson mantle; her long hair is seen beneath descending to her feet; the hands joined in prayer, the head declined on one side, and the whole expression that of girlish innocence and simplicity, with a touch of the pathetic. A mendicant, not a Magdalene, is the idea suggested; and, for myself, I confess that at the first glance I was reminded of the little Red-Riding-Hood, and could think of no sin that could have been attributed to such a face and figure, beyond the breaking of a pot of butter: yet the picture is very beautiful.
93 Mary Magdalene (Timoteo della Vite)
3. The Magdalene of Titian was so celebrated in his own time, that he painted at least five or six repetitions of it, and copies and engravings have since been multiplied. The eyes, swimming in tears, are raised to heaven; the long dishevelled hair floats over her shoulders; one hand is pressed on her bosom, the other rests on the skull; the forms are full and round, the colouring rich; a book and a box of ointment lie before her on a fragment of rock. She is sufficiently woeful, but seems rather to regret her past life than to repent of it, nor is there anything in the expression which can secure us against a relapse. Titian painted the original for Charles V. His idea of the pose was borrowed, as we are told, from an antique statue, and his model was a young girl, who being fatigued with long standing, the tears ran down her face, and Titian attained the desired expression.’(!) His idea therefore of St. Mary Magdalene was the fusion of an antique statue and a girl taken out of the streets; and with all its beauties as a work of art—and very beautiful it is—this chef-d’œuvre of Titian is, to my taste, most unsatisfactory.
4. Cigoli’s Magdalene is seated on a rock, veiled only by her long hair, which falls over the whole figure; the eyes, still wet with tears, are raised to heaven; one arm is round a skull, the right hand rests on a book which is on her knees.
5. The Magdalene of Carlo Cignani, veiled in her dishevelled hair, and wringing her hands, is also most affecting for the fervent expression of sorrow; both these are in the Florence Gallery.[300]