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Penitent Magdalen in a Landscape

Primary (1668–1738)
NationalityItalian, Europe
Datecirca 1733
MediumPen and brown ink on cream antique laid paper with an oval paper window
DimensionsSheet: 14 1/4 × 10 5/8 in. (36.2 × 27 cm)
Credit LineBlanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas at Austin, Purchase through the generosity of Susan Thomas, 2000.72
Collection AreaPrints and Drawings
Object number2000.72
On View
Not on view
Label Text
From around the time he settled in Genoa (1691), Tavella recorded his painted compositions in meticulous outline drawings, usually bearing annotations about the size and circumstance of the work. Many of these drawings survive, including a major example of 1716 in the Suida-Manning Collection. Very few, however, can be connected with extant works. The rare case, the present drawing corresponds to a painting (at left) in the museum of the Accademia Ligustica, Genoa. The principal 19th-century artistic guide to the city calls the painting and its pendant “ovali bellissimi.” With two other paintings of the same format and conception, one of which is dated 1733, they represent the artist’s latest style.
Exhibitions