The two faces of Magdalene

An assistant emerges from Leonardo’s shadow, a pastel portrait defies its years and potters receive deserved accolades

- Huon Mallalieu

THIS week, we have a tale of two Magdalenes, the first penitent, the second, one would like to think, quietly triumphant. The first is the sainted Mary of Magdala, the disciple of Jesus who witnessed the Crucifixion and was the first to see him after the Resurrection. An unfortunate consequence of so many of the women in Christ’s life being called Mary was that, in 591, in an Easter sermon, Pope Gregory I conflated three of them into a composite who had been a prostitute before having seven devils exorcised and anointing Christ’s feet. That was why Mary Magdalene became a symbol of penitence and was often painted as a desert hermit clad largely in her own hair.

The star of the Old Master and 19th-century paintings sale at Artcurial of Paris in mid-November was just such a Penitent Magdalene (Fig 1). It was a 25 ½in by 20in panel by Gian Giacomo Caprotti (1480–1524), a painter known by the nickname Salaì, given to him by Leonardo da Vinci, which essentially meant ‘little devil’. Despite stealing from his master, who also described him as ‘a liar, thief, stubborn and a glutton’, he was Leonardo’s apprentice, assistant, frequent model and lover for more than 25 years.