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Lot Essay
The drawing probably relates to the Magdalen on the left of the crucified Christ in the picture painted in 1624-5 for the Church of the Madonna della Ghiara in Reggio Emilia, L. Salerno, Il dipinti del Guercino, Rome, 1988, no. 105. Two other drawings are connected to the head of the Magdalen, one at Windsor and the other in the Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin, D. Mahon and N. Turner, The Drawings of Guercino in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen at Windsor Castle, Cambridge, 1989, no. 33, pl. 34 and fig. 5.
The head might also relate to a slightly earlier picture of the Resurrection of Lazarus, painted around 1619 for Cardinal Serra and now in the Louvre, where the Magdalen is seen in the center looking up at Christ, L. Salerno, op.cit., no. 56. The picture was engraved in 1621 with a dedication to Sebastiano Fabri. At about the same time Guercino executed a painting with the Magdalen only, now in the Manning collection, New York, L. Salerno, op. cit., no. 106.
The head might also relate to a slightly earlier picture of the Resurrection of Lazarus, painted around 1619 for Cardinal Serra and now in the Louvre, where the Magdalen is seen in the center looking up at Christ, L. Salerno, op.cit., no. 56. The picture was engraved in 1621 with a dedication to Sebastiano Fabri. At about the same time Guercino executed a painting with the Magdalen only, now in the Manning collection, New York, L. Salerno, op. cit., no. 106.