Description
Simon Vouet worked in Rome for several years before he was summoned back to France in 1627 to serve as court painter to King Louis XIII. This painting, executed soon after his return, reveals how skillfully Vouet adapted his Italian experiences to local tastes: the focus on a single monumental figure, positioned close to the picture plane, reflects the influence of Caravaggio, but the vivid pastel colors accord with the French preference for a brighter palette. Representations of the penitent Magdalene as a hermit—expressing Christian devotion but also sensuality—were exceedingly popular in the 1600s.
Provenance
Marquis Laurent de Migieu (Paris, France), by descent to Vicomte René de Vaulchier (by 1769); Vicomte René de Vaulchier, Chateau de Savigny-les-Beaune, Cote d'Or (by 1951); Sale: Guy Loudmer, Palais d'Orsay, Paris, June 6, 1978, no. 30 (June 6, 1978); Sale: Guy Loudmer, Hotel Drouot, Paris, December 14, 1987, no. 24 (December 14, 1987); Matthiesen Fine Art (London, England), sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art (1987-1988); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1988-)
Accession Number
1988.108
Medium
oil on panel
Dimensions
Framed: 159 x 132 x 13 cm (62 5/8 x 51 15/16 x 5 1/8 in.); Unframed: 130.8 x 103.5 cm (51 1/2 x 40 3/4 in.)
Classification
Painting
Credit Line
Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund
Tags
Painting Baroque (1600–1750) Oil Painting Panel Painting French
Background & Context
Background Story
Simon Vouet (1590-1649) was a French painter known as the most important painter of the French Baroque, whose elegant, decorative manner dominated French painting during the reign of Louis XIII. Saint Mary Magdalen from c. 1630 depicts the saint in the elegant, decorative manner that Vouet developed during his years in Italy and brought to France in 1627. The c. 1630 date places this in Vouet's most productive period after his return to France, when he was producing the elegant, decorative religious paintings that would dominate French painting for the next two decades.
Cultural Impact
Saint Mary Magdalen is important in the history of French painting because it demonstrates the elegant, decorative manner that Vouet brought to France after his years in Italy and used to dominate French painting for two decades. Vouet's elegant, decorative manner—combining Italian Baroque drama with French elegance—created the French Baroque style that would dominate French painting until Poussin's classicism provided an alternative, and the c. 1630 painting shows this French Baroque at its most elegant.
Why It Matters
Saint Mary Magdalen is Vouet's elegant French Baroque: the saint rendered in the decorative, Italian-influenced manner that he brought to France in 1627 and used to dominate French painting for two decades. The c. 1630 painting shows the French Baroque at its most elegant—Italian drama combined with French decorative refinement.
![Saint Bernard and Saint Catherine of Alexandria with the Virgin of the Annunciation [right panel]](https://api.nga.gov/iiif/e6890364-4d99-4684-a62b-5060ee3c3446/full/400,/0/default.jpg)