Mary Magdalen

 … From an iconographical point of view the painting is rather typical, even conventional, which makes it difficult to indisputably associate it with a specific artistic milieu. It may be the painting bought in 1767 by Stanisław August through the intermediary of Gaetano Ghigiotti, mentioned in the bill as ‘La Magdalena della schola del Guido’ … . The entry in the Belvedere inventory of 1788 associating the painting with the Netherlandish—yet classicizing—school of painting is probably more accurate than the attribution to the Bolognese or Roman school. The arrangement of the figure and the type of physiognomy allude to the style of Anthony Van Dyck or the manner of such Flemish painters active in Antwerp in the 2nd and 3rd quarter of the 17th century, as e.g. Gaspar de Crayer, Pieter Thijs or Thomas Willeboirts Bosschaert and Jan Cossiers.

The original 18th-century gilded frame, commissioned by Stanisław August, has survived. [D. Juszczak, H. Małachowicz, The Stanisław August Collection of Paintings at the Royal Łazienki. Catalogue, Royal Łazienki Museum, Warsaw 2016, no. 120, pp. 437–439.]