Heintz the Elder, Joseph 1564 Basel - 1609 Prague Mary Magdalene with the Angel. Signed in the lower center on the raised page of the book: IOHEintz. Oil on canvas. Relined. 95 x 74,5cm. Framed. Provenance: - Private collection, Vienna; - Private collection, Rome. Literature: - Mentioned and illustrated in: Studia Rudophina 11, Bulletin of the Research Center for Visual Art and Culture in the Age of Rudolf II, pg. 77 ff. Dr. Jürgen Zimmer: Maria Magdalena mit dem Engelchen von Joseph Heintz D.Ä. und die "Konfessionalisierung" -Eine Revision; - Mentioned and illustrated in: Studia Rudophina 8, Bulletin of the Research Center for Visual Art and Culture in the Age of Rudolf II, pg. 58 ff. Eine Maria Magdalena zwei Gemälde; - Mentioned in: Thomas DaCosta Kaufmann: Comments on a Painting of the Magdalene by Joseph Heintz the Elder. Verso: - Ioh. Hein. Schoenfeld/ +(gest.) 1675 zu Augsburg The significance of this painting is comprehensively elaborated on by Dr. Jürgen Zimmer in Bulletin 11 of the 'Studia Rudolphina'. Both he and Prof. Dr. DaCosta Kaufmann confirm the painting's authenticity. The authors also acknowledge this to be the first version of this motif, and therefore presents the inspiration for Aegidius Sadelers engraving. The obvious differences between the painting and the engraving are also discussed in the above mentioned literature, as well as their relation to the confessionalism of the court of Rudolph II. and the corresponding counter reformations. The controversial reception of a possibly counter reformational theme commissioned by a - in the case of Luther - tolerant court, hints toward a deeper interpretation of the motif. Two further paintings are known in connection with Heintz the Elder's depiction - one can be found in Princeton University Art Museum, and another in Prague in the chapel of St. Barbara in the Augustine hermit's cloister. This piece is, to our knowledge, the first painting by this great court painter to be sold in Germany.