When it was sold in German auctions in 1928 and 1936, this beautiful glazed terracotta statue of Mary Magdalene was catalogued as a work by Andrea della Robbia. It was clearly still considered as such when Rodolfo Siviero effected its return from Germany to the Italian state following its seizure from Hermann Göring at the end of the Second World War. A former spy, Rodolfo Siviero rose to prominence for his significant work in recovering artworks that had been looted from Italy by the Nazis. Nicknamed 'the 007 of art', he conducted his research and restitution efforts intensely from the 1950s until his death in 1983. The Mary Magdalene was returned to Italy as part of an agreement with the German chancellor Konrad Adenauer in 1954. Unbeknownst to Siviero, however, the statue was in fact forcibly sold as property of the Munich-based art firm A.S. Drey in 1936, before being bought by Göring in Italy. It seems that Siviero was particularly proud of this recovery, as a 20th-century cast of the Magdalene is still displayed in his former Florentine home, now the Museo Casa Rodolfo Siviero.

More recently, the attribution of the Drey Magdalene to Andrea della Robbia has been called into question. In his exhibition catalogue entry of 1984 (op. cit.), Giancarlo Gentilini observed a stylistic affinity with works by Andrea della Robbia from around 1470-1490, but noted deficiencies in the modelling and the glaze. This led him to conclude that the statue could be either the work of an artist outside the core Della Robbia workshop such as Benedetto Buglioni, or possibly a pastiche from the late 19th or early 20th century. The latter hypothesis has been substantiated by the result of a recent Thermoluminescence analysis. It is interesting, however, that an unglazed terracotta version of the same model is housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, there dated as 19th/20th century (inv. no. 49.7.58). Their stylistic proximity to Andrea della Robbia indicates that both works, if indeed made around 1900, are likely to copy an unknown original by the Florentine Renaissance sculptor. The fascinating history of ownership and admiration of the Drey Magdalene throughout the 20th century are a testament to the beauty of its image.

Sotheby's is grateful to Professor Giancarlo Gentilini for his kind assistance in cataloguing this lot.

A Thermoluminescence Analysis Report prepared by Helen Mason of Oxford Authentication Ltd in September 2020 states that the date of last firing of the two samples taken was less than 200 years ago.