7 - After Guido Reni,

After Guido Reni, Italian 1575-1642- The Penitent Magdalene; oil on canvas, 91.6 x 71.4 cm. (unframed). Provenance: Private Collection, UK. Note: The present work is a copy after Reni's original in the collection of the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore [37.2631], which describes how 'Reni created an idealized, as well as classical style influenced by ancient sculpture and by the Renaissance artist Raphael (1483-1520). This influence is visible in the Magdalene's rounded, even features, painted so smoothly that the strokes seem to disappear, in contrast with the broad, energetic strokes used for the drapery, more typical of 17th-century painting. Images of female saints sometimes depicted in a seductive manner, were very popular with some artists and patrons in the 17th century, and Reni painted many versions of this composition.' Indeed, various versions of the same subject by Reni include those which sold at Christie's, New York, on 31 January 2024, lot 43, and at Lempertz, Cologne, on 20 May 2023, lot 2020.