Description

Acquaforte e bulino, firmato in basso a sinistra PAUL’ FARINAT F.Esemplare nel terzo stato finale.Bellissima prova, impressa su carta vergata coeva, rifilata al rame, in buono stato di conservazione. Etching and engraving, signed at bottom left PAUL’ FARINAT F. Example in the third state of three.A good impresison, printed on contemporary laid paper, trimmed to the platemark, in good condition.Mary Magdalene in the desert seated before a cross at the left holding a book with her left hand, right on her breast.The artist himself referred to this etching in his Diary. It had been considered as the iconographical model for a small painting in reverse, commissioned from the artist by Niccolo Troian in 1581, today in Narodní Galerie, Prague, inv. no. 814. According to Albricci 1980, the painting derives from a drawing, today lost, that was transformed into this etching at around the time of the painting's commission. Giorgio Marini argued that Farinati must have based his painting on a preparatory drawing rather than the print. The composition is close to Battista del Moro's painting of the same subject, included originally in the cicle of the Mantua cathedral, today in its sacristy. Cfr. Bartsch XVI.164.2; Albricci 19.2; Marini in Verona 2006, no. 193.