Penitent Magdalene

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, c. 1595–1597

Oil on canvas, 122.5 × 98.5 cm

Galleria Doria Pamphilj, Rome

Room I · The Early Years (c. 1592–1597)

Penitent Magdalene, Caravaggio, c. 1595–1597 — Image: Wikimedia Commons, public domain

A girl sits on a low chair, head bowed, her jewellery discarded on the floor: Mary Magdalene leaving her former life behind. With no ecstasy and no solemn symbols, it was an unusually plain, everyday Magdalene.