ANNIBALE CARRACCI (Bologna, 1560 - Rome, 1609) Magdalene Oil on canvas, 76.5X58 cm Exhibition: Gli esordi dei Carracci e gli affreschi di Palazzo Fava, Bologna, Pinacoteca Nazionale, 1984, p. 179, no. 123, illustrated- Tesoros del Arte italiano: La pintura en Emilia y Romagna del siglo XVI al XVIII, Santiago, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, 1992, p. 76, no. 13, illustrated Da Tiziano a Pietro da Cortona: il sacro, il mito, la poesia..., Athens, Museo di Arte Cicladica, 20 September 2008-11 January 2009, p. 52 Bibliography: A. Emiliani, in Bologna 1584. Gli esordi dei Carracci e gli affreschi di Palazzo Fava, exhibition catalogue, Bologna 1984, p. 179, n. 123 M. Scolaro, Tesoros del Arte italiano: La pintura en Emilia y Romagna del siglo XVI al XVIII, exhibition catalogue, (Santiago), Bologna 1992, pp. 76-77, cat. no. 13, illustrated D. Benati in Stanze bolognesi, edited by D. Benati and P. Giordani, Bologna 1994, pp. 69-70, cat. no. 18, illustrated p. 132- C. Loisel Legrand, Le dessin à Bologne 1580-1620. La riforma dei tre Carracci, exhibition catalogue, Paris 1994, p. 68 D. Benati, in I disegni di Annibale Carracci, edited by D. Benati, D. De Grazia, G. Feigenbaum and others, exhibition catalogue, Washington 1999, p. 67 C. Loisel, Musée du Louvre, Département des arts graphiques, Inventaire général des dessins italiens, VII: Ludovico, Agostino, Annibale Carracci, Paris 2004, no. 429, p. 213, 214 and p. 30, 92 (cited) D. Benati in La gloria della pittura, dal Francia al Gandolfi, exhibition catalogue, Bologna 2006, pp. 46-50, cat. no. 8, illustrated- G. Morello (ed.), Da Tiziano a Pietro da Cortona: il sacro, il mito, la poesia..., exhibition catalogue, Athens, 20 September 2008-11 January 2009, Milan 2008, p. 52 Attributed to the hand of Annibale Carracci by Carlo Volpe in 1968, the scholar pointed out its happily neo-Venetian character and a date of execution around 1585. In fact, in this work, the author achieves correggesque connotations developed with an extraordinary Titian sensibility, in which the colours are rendered with refined veiling. But this elaboration of 16th-century painting culture does not detract from the modernity of the image, conceived as pure painting and aided by a surprising stylistic balance. Returning to the dating, in 1984 Eugenio Riccomini suggested postponing it to the years 1587 ; 1588, but more recently Daniele Benati aligned himself with Volpe's proposal by noting the similarities in the drafting with certain passages of the Baptism of Christ painted by Annibale for the Bolognese church of San Gregorio between 1583 and 1585 (now in the collections of the Banca Popolare dell'Emilia-Romagna in Modena). This chronological collocation also seems to be supported by the pencil sketches for a half-figure Magdalene on the verso of the Giovane che si togliersi la camicia (Young Man Taking Off His Shirt) in the Graphic Arts Department of the Louvre Museum, which is related to the 1685 altarpiece depicting the Baptism of Christ in the church of San Gregorio e Siro in Bologna (https://arts-graphiques.louvre.fr/detail/oeuvres/240/4235-Diverses-etudes-pour-une-figure-de-Madeleine).