Mary Magdalen

by Ed Copley

Size: 27x20
Medium: Oil on Linen

After Carlo Dolci, 1660-70, 27"x20"
The penitence of St Mary Magdalen is a traditional subject, particularly popular in seventeenth-century Italian art. Here Magdalen is shown in half-length, facing and looking upward. Her hair is untied, her left hand is on her breast and the palm of her right hand is holding an ointment jar. Her traditional attribute, a pot of ointment. The saint's tumbling hair and pot of ointment reference the Gospel of Luke (7:37-8), which describes a woman who was a sinner, unnamed but usually identified with the Magdalen, who anointed Christ's feet, washing them with her tears and then drying them with her hair, when he was in the house of the Pharisee.
Carlo Dolci was famous for his emotive rendering of religious subjects and his detailed and polished finish.
Most of the religious paintings from the 1600 and 1700's are some of my favorite subjects to make copies of, they have so much more to offer an artist when it comes to doing a study of their style and brush work, it's a lot more difficult than doing your own painting, because you're trying to match their colors and style. --Ed Copley