Mary Magdalen comforted by Angels

This Mary Magdalen Comforted by Angels at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum depicts the repentant saint receiving divine consolation in her legendary cave retreat in Provence, where she was said to have spent thirty years in penance after Christ's death. The subject combined the Counter-Reformation's emphasis on penitence and divine mercy with the tradition of the female mystic elevated by celestial visitation. Ricci's Venetian treatment of this devotional subject brings the warm sensuality of his figure style to the Magdalene's mystical experience, the angels' attendance expressing divine approval of her transformative penance.

The Magdalen's luminous flesh and flowing hair contrast with the angelic visitors in a composition that balances religious devotion with the sensuous colorism that defined the Venetian tradition from Titian onward.