Penitent Magdalene (Donatello)

Common card · No. 432512

The Penitent Magdalene is a wooden sculpture of Mary Magdalene by the Italian Renaissance sculptor Donatello, now usually dated to around 1440. The sculpture was probably commissioned for the Baptistery of Florence. The piece was received with astonishment for its unprecedented realism. It is now in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo in Florence. The wood used by Donatello is that of white poplar. Wood was still used for crucifixes for its lightness. It was also inexpensive and convenient for transporting long distances, and was usually painted. When a Florentine confraternity in Venice commissioned from Donatello a statue of John the Baptist, patron saint of Florence, still in the Frari Church there, wood was chosen. It was signed and dated 1438 (before this was revealed in conservation work it had been dated later), and remains the only work by Donatello in the city; he usually did not sign his work, except for some commissions destined for outside Florence. The revised dating of the Saint...

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