Bolognese school; second half of the 17th century.

Bolognese school; second half of the seventeenth century.
"Magdalene" penitent".
Oil on copper.
Measurements: 21,5 x 16,5 cm; 34 x 28,5 cm (frame).
This canvas represents Mary Magdalene as a penitent in a pensive and melancholic attitude, in profile to the viewer, wearing a long flowing hair, accompanied by the skull as a symbol of the brevity of earthly life and a jar of ointments. This piece is part of the Bolognese Baroque school, which takes its references from Greco-Latin classicism and the Renaissance of the early sixteenth century, especially the Venetian. His style is based on the study of natural truth, of reality as a model, although in a more aesthetic and idealized way than Caravaggio, in a purely classical sense. This school will therefore be the basis of the classicist baroque, and starts from the figure of the Carracci: Annibale, his brother Agostino and his cousin Ludovico, creators of the Accademia degli Incamminati (1582), with which they tried to renew the art of the time, predominantly mannerist, which they considered already decadent. Annibale will be the main creator of the new style, while Agostino will be important for the diffusion of the models, as an engraver, and Ludovico will be the main master of the academy. The Carracci's painting, as we have mentioned, will mean the same as Caravaggio's naturalism at the beginning: a counterposition to the dominant trends. It reacts against mannerism, already very repetitive, which they see as artificial in the extreme. On the contrary, the Carracci wanted precisely to represent reality, the natural, which was precisely what had been lost in mannerism. The protagonists of the Classicist Baroque, and therefore of the Bolognese school, will do so in two ways: on the one hand, by looking at nature and painting things as they are, and on the other by admiring the great masters, especially Correggio and the Venetians of the 16th century. From Titian they took the loose brushstroke and themes, from Veronese the luxury, brilliance and theatricality of gesture (especially evident in compositions such as the one presented here), and from Tintoretto the chiaroscuro and a certain artificiality in the postures. The classicism of Raphael and Michelangelo, whom Annibale Carracci met during his stay in Rome, also defined his style. They admired Michelangelo's drawing, and Raphael's balance and proportions, Titian's color, Correggio's grace... Unjustly called eclectic, the masters of the Bolognese Classical Baroque did not copy, but created a new style inspired by what they considered the best of the classical past.