Not to be confused with the same artist's 1533 version

Penitent Magdalene (Titian, 1533)

The Penitent Magdalene is a painting of saint Mary Magdalene by Titian dating to around 1533, signed 'TITIANUS' on the vase to the left. It is now held in the Palazzo Pitti in Florence....

 of the same subject.

The Penitent Magdalene is a 1565 oil painting by Titian

Titian

Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio (c. 1488/1490 – 27 August 1576 better known as Titian was an Italian painter, the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near...

 of saint Mary Magdalene

Mary Magdalene

Mary Magdalene was one of Jesus' most celebrated disciples, and the most important woman disciple in the movement of Jesus. Jesus cleansed her of "seven demons", conventionally interpreted as referring to complex illnesses...

, now in the Hermitage Museum

Hermitage Museum

The State Hermitage is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. One of the largest and oldest museums of the world, it was founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great and has been opened to the public since 1852. Its collections, of which only a small part is on permanent display,...

 in Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...

. Unlike his 1533 version of the same subject, Titian has covered Mary's nudity and introduced a vase, an open book and a skull as a memento mori

Memento mori

Memento mori is a Latin phrase translated as "Remember your mortality", "Remember you must die" or "Remember you will die". It names a genre of artistic work which varies widely, but which all share the same purpose: to remind people of their own mortality...

. Its colouring is more mature than the earlier work, using colours harmonising with character. In the background the sky is bathed in the rays of the setting sun, with a dark rock contrasting with the brightly-lit figure of Mary.

Sources

Wielkie muzea. Palazzo Pitti, wyd. HPS, Warszawa 2007, ISBN 978-83-60688-42-7 J. Szapiro Ermitraż (translated Maria Dolińska), Wydawnictwo Progress, Moskwa, 1976