Michele Tosini, called Michele di Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio

With Colnaghi, New York, 1988;
From whom acquired by a Private Collector;
From whom purchased by the present collector, by 1989.

New York, Colnaghi, Gothic to Renaissance:  European Painting 1300-1600, 1988, no. 17;
New  York, Richard L. Feigen & Co., Strange Beauty:  A Century of Mannerism 1520-1620, 29 January - 2 April 1999 (on loan from the present collector).

L. Rivelli, Polidoro a San Silvestro al Quirinale, Bergamo 1987, p. 79, reproduced fig. 59.

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com , an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This panel could be hung as is, and looks well. The panel is un-reinforced on the reverse and is in structurally very healthy condition. The paint layer has last been cleaned in the late 1980s. There are small isolated spots of restoration in the face and neck, yet they are not an indication of any more than the usual light damage which occurs to pictures of this period. Around the urn, in the urn itself and in the dress in the lower left there are retouches which attend to some thinness. There appear to be no significant restorations in the blue gown. In the red background on the right particularly and in the headdress the condition is very good. In the left background there is slightly more retouching and in the stripe of brocade down the right side there are small losses which have been retouched, almost all in the orange background. Although this work is attractive as is, a further reexamination of the restoration will make noticeable improvements.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Michele Tosini began his artistic training in Florence with Lorenzo di Credi and Antonio del Ceraiolo, and later entered the workshop of Ridolfo Ghirlandaio.  By the mid-1520s, the two were frequent collaborators, and Tosini adopted the older artist's name.  By the 1540s Tosini had abandoned his earlier High Renaissance style in favour of a Mannerist idiom inspired by Bronzino and Salviati.  During the latter part of the 1550s, he worked with Vasari on the frescoes for the Salone del Cinquecento in the Palazzo Vecchio, and adopted this artist's Michelangesque style.  In the 1560s, Tosini worked on the decoration of the city gates of Florence and the altar in the chapel at the Villa Caserotta, near San Casciano Val di Pesa. 

Typically represented either before, or at, the moment of her spiritual awakening, the solitary figure of the Magdalene was a favourite pictorial subject during the Renaissance and Mannerist periods. The present, exquisite painting depicts the worldly Mary Magdalene sumptuously attired with an elaborate jeweled headdress, her serpentine pose and alluring expression suggesting her vanity and profane sexuality.  This is Mary Magdalene the prostitute, not the humble follower of Jesus Christ, and in her depiction, there is a reflection of the prevailing atmosphere of the Medici court after the middle of the sixteenth century.  Typical of the maniera style are the bust-length format, classicizing features and antique costume, which all reveal and interest in - and knowledge of - ancient sculpture, considered an authoritative source for figural types and motifs.

This painting is related to several other works, including the figures of Leda and Lucretia in the Borghese Gallery, and another image of an Allegorical Figure in a private collection. Likely done as a collector's piece, Ravelli has pointed out that the figure of the Magdalene is likely based on Polidoro's Magdalene in St. Silvestro Quirinale, Rome (op. cit.).