GIOVANNI PIETRO RIZZOLI, CALLED GIAMPIETRINO | THE PENITENT MAGDALENE

Count Jenő [Eugen] Zichy (1837-1906); 

Private collection, Austria; 

Anonymous sale, Vienna, Dorotheum, 15 March 1990, lot 79; 

Private collection, Northern Italy;

Anonymous sale, Vienna, Dorotheum, 18 October 2016, lot 32;

There acquired.

C. Geddo, forthcoming catalogue raisonne on Giampietrino.

Giampietrino was one of Leonardo da Vinci's Milanese pupils and created a unique iconography that combined the sacred and profane. He specialized in depictions of Mary Magdalene like the present that were popular among his contemporaries. Unlike the more common reclining Magdalene in a cave, the present example shows the saint straight on, with her long hair braided together across her chest as she holds a prayer book and stands near her other attribute, the jar of ointment. The frontal position of the Magdalene and the small size of the present work indicate that it was intended as a personal devotional image. Multiple fingerprints are visible in the paint surface of the hair and shadows of the face and neck; Giampietrino learned this practice from Leonardo and frequently employed it in his own works.¹ 

The present work formerly belonged to the noble and prestigious Hungarian Zichy family, which consisted of politicians, musicians, artists, collectors and patrons. Count Jenő Zichy (1837-1906) left his father's extensive art collections to the city of Budapest, which would later be incorporated into the Szépművészeti Múzeum, however the present work either was not included in the Jenő Zichy donation or it belonged to another branch of the family. 

Cristina Geddo has confirmed the attribution to Giampietrino and dates the painting to the early 1530s due to the strong physiognomy and soft flesh tones. The present painting is the only autograph version of this composition known today. 

1. See C. Geddo, "La Madonna di Castel Vitoni del Giampietrino," in Achademia Leonardi Vinci, VII, 1994, p. 59 and note 15.