Mid 17th century French school (Workshop of Georges de La Tour) Penitent Magdalene or Magdalene with Crucifix Oil on canvas (Restorations) The Penitent Magdalene or Magdalene at the Crucifix, oil on canvas, French School, mid-17th century 28.35 x 22.83 in. 72.5 x 58 cm Provenance: Private collection, Aurillac, 1976 ; Anonymous sale; Aurillac, Hôtel des ventes d'Aurillac, Me Goolen, 24 March 2002, no. 12 ; Acquired at this sale by the current owners Exhibitions: Georges de La Tour, Paris, Grand Palais, 1997, n°32C (copy after a lost original) Bibliography: Pierre Rosenberg, "Georges de La Tour", in The Art Bulletin, vol.58, n°3, 1976, p. 453, fig. 1 Benedict Nicolson, The International Caravagesque movement, Oxford, 1979, p. 64 Jacques Thuillier, Tout l'œuvre peint de Georges de La Tour, Paris, 1985, no. 31bis Benedict Nicolson and Luisa Vertova, Caravaggism in Europe, Turin, 1989, p. 133 Pierre Rosenberg, Georges de La Tour, Paris, 1992 p. 9 Jacques Thuillier, Georges de La Tour, Paris, 1992, n°33, ill. p.154-155 Jean-Pierre Cuzin and Dimitri Salmon, Georges de La Tour. Histoire d'une redécouverte, Paris, 1997, p. 104, repr. Jean-Pierre Cuzin, La Tour, Paris, 2021, p. 206-207, fig. 189 and p. 358, no. 37 Discovered by Pierre Rosenberg in a private collection in Aurillac in 1976, this copy of a lost original by Georges de La Tour is an important element in our understanding of the artist's artistic development and the Madeleine series. According to the art historians referenced, our painting is a copy of a composition by Georges de La Tour, probably larger on the left-hand side. The warm, contrasting light, which seems to come from a lighted candle, grazes the long, slender hand resting on the skull, the exposed breast and the face of the Magdalene. The crucifix and exposed breast are unique in the Madeleine series. "The somewhat demonstrative and talkative character, far from the beautiful formal simplifications of the later Madeleines" suggests that the original of this Madeleine with crucifix should be dated to the mid-1630s, at the beginning of the Madeleine series (cf. J.P. Cuzin, op. cit., 2021). French school of the mid-seventeenth century (Workshop of Georges de La Tour) 72.5 x 58 cm