This study of the Magdalen kneeling before a crucifix and asleep is related to two pictures. The kneeling Magdalen may be a preparatory study for a picture of 1649 executed for Cardinal Fabrizio Savelli (died 1659), Papal Legate in Bologna from 1648 to 1651, L. Salerno, I Dipinti del Guercino, Rome, 1988, no. 264, illustrated. The picture now in a New York private collection was one of four paintings of Saints. The study of the sleeping Magdalen is related to one of four pictures painted by Guercino to decorate his house circa 1652-5, and now in the Pinacoteca Nazionale, Bologna, L. Salerno, op. cit., Rome, 1988, no. 294, illustrated. A related drawing is at Windsor (D. Mahon and N. Turner, op. cit., no. 372, as Ascribed to Guercino) and two others for the same commission sold in these Rooms, 26 June 1974, lot 7, illustrated and 12 December 1985, lot 251, illustrated