The Magdalen

The Magdalen at the National Gallery from around 1517 shows Correggio's early treatment of the penitent saint in one of the subjects that would prove most enduringly influential on subsequent European painting. His Magdalene paintings established a type of sensuous spiritual beauty — the repentant sinner whose physical beauty was itself a sign of grace — that was widely imitated throughout the Baroque period by painters from Guido Reni to Caravaggio. The reclining figure reading, half-absorbed and half-ecstatic, captured a moment of devotional introspection with an intimacy and warmth unprecedented in religious painting. Correggio's oil technique, with its characteristic soft modeling, warm light, and atmospheric dissolution of outlines, gave the saint's skin a luminous quality that was simultaneously devotional and sensuous. The National Gallery in London holds this among its outstanding collection of Italian Renaissance paintings, where it can be compared with the Raphael and Titian works that provide the immediate context for Correggio's revolutionary achievement.

The reclining figure is rendered with Correggio's characteristic soft modeling and warm light. The treatment of the Magdalene's flowing hair and luminous skin demonstrates his revolutionary approach to painting the human form.