Giovanni Battista Pittoni
The Penitent Magdalene, c. 1740
Oil on canvas
48 x 38 cm
Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice
The dark setting of the scene describes the cave where the saint decides to retire in prayer, mortifying her body with fasting. The kneeling figure with her face in profile is rendered through bold brushstrokes that become increasingly rapid near the outer edges of the painting, giving a sense of whirling motion to the entire composition. The dynamism blends with a pathetic character, recurrent in the artist's sacred production, here emphasized by the left hand that the saint clasps to her chest. The iconographic attributes left in shadow in the lower part of the painting such as the skull, the balsam and the scourge are linked to the ascetic phase of penance; the halo, the only source of light inside the painting, highlights the loose blonde hair on the back and reveals the clarity of the robust female complexion. From the chromatic point of view, Pittoni juxtaposes the blue tunic and the purple drape with the earthy colors of the background where three cherubs in flight complete the composition. More on this painting
Mary Magdalene, literally translated as Mary the Magdalene or Mary of Magdala, is a figure in Christianity who, according to the Bible, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers. She is said to have witnessed Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection. Within the four Gospels she is named more than most of the apostles. Based on texts of the early Christian era in the third century, it seems that her status as an “apostle" rivals even Peter's.
The Gospel of Luke says seven demons had gone out of her. She is most prominent in the narrative of the crucifixion of Jesus, at which she was present. She was also present two days later when, she was, either alone or as a member of a group of women, the first to testify to the resurrection of Jesus. John 20 and Mark 16:9 specifically name her as the first person to see Jesus after his resurrection.
During the Middle Ages, Mary Magdalene was regarded in Western Christianity as a repentant prostitute or promiscuous woman, claims not found in any of the four canonical gospels. More Mary Magdalene
Giambattista Pittoni or Giovanni Battista Pittoni (6 June 1687 - 6 November 1767) was a Venetian painter of the late Baroque or Rococo period. He was among the founders of the Academy of Fine Arts of Venice , of which in 1758 he became the second president, succeeding Tiepolo.
Pittoni studied under his uncle Francesco Pittoni, a well-known but undistinguished painter of the Venetian Baroque.
Pittoni joined the Fraglia of the Venetian Painters, the Venetian guild of painters, in 1716. From, probably, the same year until his death he was a member of the College of Painters, of which he became prior in 1729. He was elected to the Clementine Academy of Bologna in 1727. In 1750 he was one of the forty-six members of the Veneta Publish Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, which later became the Academy of Fine Arts of Venice ; from 1758 to 1760 he succeeded Tiepoloas president of the academy, and was elected for a second term in 1763–64. More on Giambattista Pittoni
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