The Magdalene Attended by Two Angels

In this passionate and golden-hued painting, the eighteenth-century Bolognese artist Giuseppe Marchesi treats a joyous rather than tragic subject: the moment marking Mary Magdalene’s vision of the divine after her long journey as a penitent. The angels who present the cross for her contemplation, both exhorting and comforting, are bearers of God’s tidings. It is a spiritual and emotional high point for the former fallen woman, whose gesture expresses pathos and humility as well as bliss in having at last won divine favor.