Saint Mary Magdalen

Anton Graff executed no fewer than five copies of Pompeo Batoni's celebrated Magdalen (E. Berckenhagen, Anton Graff, Berlin, 1967, p. 411, nos. 1746-9), one of the paintings most responsible for Batoni's fame outside Italy in the eighteenth century. The original, formerly at Dresden, was destroyed by fire on 13 February 1945. Its popularity and influence during its day was particularly widespread among Batoni's artistic peers: Anton Raphael Mengs wrote: 'This sole image contains all the beauty which can be imagined in painting, for the diligence with which it is executed, the impasting of colours, the softness, grace, and knowledge in the clare obscure' (The Works of Anthony Raphael Mengs, London, 1796, II, p. 31).

Graff copied many of the paintings at Dresden, including works by Bloemaert, Annibale Carracci, Cignani, Correggio, Parmigianino, Raphael and Rubens (Berckenhagen, op cit., pp. 412-16).

We are grateful to Professor Helmut Börsch-Supan for confirming the attribution from a transparency.