Viewing page 17 of 34

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

- 2-

two schematic parallels, rests upon two equidistant angles of about 180 degrees. As a whole, and given its apparent and calculated mathematical design, its ecstatic movement and unfoldment is achieved by foreshortening the figure and balancing coloring with highlights with amazing facility. In an elegant curve, going from left to right, the problem is solved with characteristic grace by the master, within the limits of perfect sobriety.

The repentant woman, shaken by the pain caused by her sin, is down on her knees, face and eyes uplifted, hands clasped in a gesture of anguish and repentance, hair down, and in a trance of divine and absolute surrender. The right arm, covered up to above the elbow by her cloak, rests upon the rock. It is the only point of support for the figure in the upper plan, where the weight of the body foreshortened is easily taken care of. On the rock there lies an open book (a well achieved detail, although absurd from any historical or iconographical point of view; in no way exclusive with Guido), this book resting against a human scull [[skull]], symbol of death. Behind this scull [[skull]], outstanding in the penumbra, is outlined a container of ointments, together with a polished wooden cross. The background, of limited perspective, is of dark rocks, better to say, a mass of shades, which nearly blends with the first plane. The upper left hand corner depicts an inconsistent ray of light, and the weak and careless silhouettes of branches of trees spreading over sketched oranges.

We are reminded of the exact vision of the various Magdalenas of Guido: two in Rome; one in London; one in Amsterdam; two in Paris; one in Vienna; one in Madrid, and one in Antwerp. They