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Lot 31
Workshop of Bernardino Luini(Luino(?) 1475-1532 Milan)Saint Mary Magdalene
4 December 2024, 14:00 GMT
London, New Bond StreetSold for £38,400 inc. premium
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Poppy Harvey-Jones
Head of Sale
Lisa Greaves
Head of Department
Workshop of Bernardino Luini (Luino(?) 1475-1532 Milan)
Saint Mary Magdalene
oil on panel, cut down
45.7 x 34cm (18 x 13 3/8in).
oil on panel, cut down
45.7 x 34cm (18 x 13 3/8in).
Footnotes
Provenance
The Nobile Signore Niccolo Guiducci
The Guadagni Collection
The Collection of William Drury-Lowe, Locko Park, Derbyshire, by the mid-19th Century, and thence by descent until
Their sale, Sotheby's, London, 24 March 1965, lot 61 (with the painting of Saint Martha, as Aurelio Luini)
Literature
J. P. Richter, Catalogue of Pictures at Locko Park 1901, no. 89 (as a 'version of the left hand figure in Bernardino Luino's "Modesty and Vanity"...from which it differs, however, not only in the arrangement of the hair and dress, but also in the drawing of the features')
Originally thought to depict Modesty and Vanity, the present Magdalene and the following lot follow the composition of the work in the Rothschild collection at Pregny-Chambésy, Geneva. The large panel was generally ascribed to Leonardo da Vinci, and was included as such by Gavin Hamilton in his collection of engravings of works by important Italian painters, the Schola Italica Picturae of 1770, at which point Modesty and Vanity hung in the Palazzo Barberini, Rome.
The Rothschild painting is now thought to depict Saints Martha and Mary who, along with their brother Lazarus, welcomed Jesus into their home as their guest. The younger of the two sisters, Mary, is depicted in this and the Rothschild work wearing costly and elaborate costume whereas Martha, traditionally considered to be the more modest of the two, is seen reproaching her younger sister, Mary, for her sinful lifestyle.
According to the Locko Park catalogue, either this painting or that of Saint Martha was exhibited under the name of Leonardo da Vinci in an exhibition of paintings from private collections in the cloisters of Santissima Annunziata, Florence, in the second half of the 19th century.