Saint Mary Magdalene

The Master of the Feigen Adoration was first named by Fiorella Sricchia Santoro, who identified the hand in a panel that was part of the Feigen colletion, when it was included in the exhibition on Domenico Beccafumi in 1990 (see F. Sricchia Santoro, 'Maestro dell'Adorazione Feigen', in Domenico Beccafumi e il suo tempo, exhibition catalogue, Milan 1990, pp. 270-71). This eponymous work, one of only a handful of pictures given to the artist, including the present lot, had previously been published by Andrea De March in relation to the ‘Master of the Chigi Saracini Heroines’, while Laurence Kanter links the Feigen Adoration instead to Capanna Senese. Despite these uncertain theories, it is known that the artist was working in Siena in the early 16th century, and had knowledge of the likes of il Sodoma (1477-1549) and Girolamo Genga (1476-1551), to whom this panel was previously given. It was probably through these artists that he would have acquired knowledge of Leonardo and his followers, whose influence is evident here in the drawing of the Magdalene’s facial features and the characteristic Leonardesque smile.