This canvas is one of Guido Reni’s mature works, from the time when he was making religious paintings with a greater focus on inner spiritual life. The Bologna-born artist made many paintings of Mary Magdalene, but this one differs from the others in its more monumental composition and in the unusual pose of the penitent saint, who appears among the rocks with a skull in her hand, enthralled as she looks at an angel pointing to the sky. Even though of great impact, the work is unfinished.
