The ''Penitent Magdalene'' is a marble sculpture of

Mary Magdalene Mary Magdalene (sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine) was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to crucifixion of Jesus, his cru ...

Antonio Canova Antonio Canova (; 1 November 1757 – 13 October 1822) was an Italian Neoclassical sculptor, famous for his marble sculptures. Often regarded as the greatest of the Neoclassical artists,. his sculpture was inspired by the Baroque and the cl ...

, about 90 cm high, known in two final versions, now in Genoa and St Petersburg.

Genoa

The difficulties in elaborating the theme had led Canova to produce two very different preparatory works. The original version of 1793-1796 was praised at the Salon of 1808, the first of Canova's works to be a success there. It was acquired by the French commissar Juliot and in 1808 passed into the hands of the Milanese collector Comte Masseo conte Giovanni Battista Sommariva and, after his death, to signor d'Aguado. It was acquired by Raffaele de Ferrari, Duca di Galliera and displayed in his palace in Paris, before being left to the collection of the city of Genoa in 1889 by his wife Maria Brignole-Sale de Ferrari - it is now in the Palazzo Doria-Tursi, part of the Strada Nuova Museums in

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

St Petersburg

Canova also produced another version between 1808 and 1809 for

Eugène de Beauharnais Eugène Rose de Beauharnais, Duke of Leuchtenberg (; 3 September 1781 – 21 February 1824) was a French nobleman, statesman, and military commander who served during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. Through the second marr ...

, viceroy of Italy, who exhibited it in his palace in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

. The initial preparatory work showed the head raised and the arms crossed, but in the final 1808-1809 work the head are lowered and the hands holding a gilded bronze cross, though that is missing in the 1808-1809 version, either subsequently lost or more likely since mixed-medium sculptures were not accepted in France at that time. This version remained in the collection of the de Beauharnais' successors as

Duke of Leuchtenberg Duke of Leuchtenberg was a title created twice by List of rulers of Bavaria, the monarchs of Bavaria for their relatives. The first creation was awarded by Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria to his son Maximilian Philipp Hieronymus, upon whose death ...

and thus moved to St Petersburg, passing to Soviet Russia's State Museum Fund and finally in 1922 to the

Hermitage Museum The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is the list of ...

, where it remains.

References

{{Antonio Canova 1790s sculptures 1809 sculptures Sculptures by Antonio Canova Marble sculptures in Italy Marble sculptures in Russia

Canova Antonio Canova (; 1 November 1757 – 13 October 1822) was an Italian Neoclassical sculptor, famous for his marble sculptures. Often regarded as the greatest of the Neoclassical artists,. his sculpture was inspired by the Baroque and the cl ...

Sculptures of the Hermitage Museum Sculptures of women in Italy Sculptures of the Strada Nuova Museums