James Sherwood Westmacott, The Penitent Magdalene, white marble James Sherwood Westmacott (London 1823-1900) PENITENT MAGDALENE white marble sculpture, signed and dated J. S. WESTMACOTT. / ROMA 1849, 49x58x28 cm Exhibition London, Royal Academy of Arts, 1850, no. 1349 Literature A. Graves, The Royal Academy of Arts: A Complete Dictionary of Contributors , vol. 7, London 1906, p. 235; I. Roscoe, E. Hardy, M. G. Sullivan, A Biographical Dictionary of Sculptors in Britain, 1660-1851, London 2009, pp. 1351-1354 no. 78 The sculpture, which depicts Magdalene seated on the ground, naked from the waist down, her gaze turned towards heaven and a simple cross supported by her left arm, was made by Westmacott while he was living in Rome in 1849, and refers to two versions of the subject by Antonio Canova, the Penitent Magdalene of 1809 (Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg) and the Lying Magdalene of 1819-1822 (private collection). This marble, dated 1849, seems almost certainly to be the one exhibited by Westmacott at the Royal Academy in London in 1850.