Giovan Francesco Rustici (Florence 1464 – 1554 Tours) or Benedetto Buglioni (Florence 1459/60 – 1521 Florence) Italian, Florence, circa 1510

This extraordinarily powerful figure of Mary Magdalene is shown according to the standard iconography of a ‘penitent saint’: her body is withered by starvation and covered only by her long hair, the locks gathered into a belt on her stomach; her face, marked by the suffering of a hermit’s life, appears drawn and sorrowful as she prays for forgiveness. The stark realism of the image is striking, particularly in the anatomical precision. This effect is accentuated by the polychromy, which renders the figure more naturalistic with the pallor of the emaciated complexion, the purplish blush of the cheeks and knees, and the wild, almost mossy shade of the hair. The statue was modeled and fired in two overlapping pieces that were originally fastened using the four perforations on the back (their joint is concealed along the line of the belt, a characteristic of Florentine clay sculpture). The bisque is covered by a thick rose-colored slip or engobe, possibly to create effects of greater transparency on the surface which could also be one of the causes of the considerable crackling of the glaze.

The theme of the penitent Magdalene occurs frequently in Florentine Renaissance sculpture. The most famous examples are three large, life-sized wooden statues by the major Florentine Renaissance protagonists: the Brunelleschi, formerly in Santo Spirito (destroyed by fire in 1471), Donatello in the Baptistery (datable to around 1455), and that in Santa Trinita from shortly thereafter, begun by Desiderio da Settignano and completed by Benedetto da Maiano. During this same period, other wooden images were carved which, unlike these sophisticated expressions of Renaissance naturalism, are characterized instead by a hieratic simplicity in keeping with medieval taste. They were destined mainly for popular devotion in country churches.

The present sculpture is one of the few known examples of polychrome enameled statues portraying the Magdalene, which is of particular interest because technical and stylistic considerations prevent an attribution to the Della Robbia. The dramatic, hollowed-out face is in contrast with the restrained melancholy of the Della Robbia physiognomy. In addition, both the impasto of the clay and the engobed glaze are notably removed from the practices of workshops specializing in enameled sculpture—precisely those of the Della Robbia and the Buglioni. The work therefore constitutes a rare example of the occasional ‘pseudo-Robbian’episodes of other Florentine sculptors, such as Benedetto da Maiano and Andrea Sansovino,

Baccio da Montelupo, and Rustici himself, were influenced by the success and by the practical advantages of enameled terracotta (see J. Pope-Hennessy, “A relief of the Rape of Europe,” in Victoria and Albert Museum Yearbook, IV, 1974, pp. 11-19; M.G. Ciardi Dupré, G. F. Rustici, in Paragone, XIV, 1963, 157, pp. 29-50). A statement by Vasari (Le Vite…, 1568, ed. G. Milanesi, VI, p. 606) confirms Rustici’s interest in Robbian production, as is documented by the large enameled altarpiece at the Bargello, a work which supplies valid attributive evidence.

Several stylistic analogies can be drawn between this Magdalene and the terracotta Magdalenes connected to the Rustici workshop, a group that is far from homogeneous, both for reasons of chronology and because of the presence of a number of collaborators working alongside the master. The first similarity can be found in the attentive, vigorously researched anatomy of the face and neck, constructed through a complex play of volumes and hollows. The unusually prominent eyebrows are also typical of Rustici’s sensibility. The square shape of the head is particularly akin to the heads in the reliefs of the Assumption of the Magdalene, while the rather schematic flow of hair is comparable to that found in this statue. Furthermore, the work also displays some resemblance—in the frozen tension of the pose, in the relationship of the neck and chin, and in the shape of the mouth—to a marble statue by Rustici from 1515 the Cardinal Niccolò Foreteguerri in the Museo Civica in Pistoia. It seems therefore reasonable to propose an attribution of the Magdalene to the workshop of Giovan Francesco Rustici (Florence, 1474-1554) with a hypothetical dating to c. 1510.

During this period, besides completing the famous bronze group at the Florentine baptistery depicting the Preaching of the Baptist, Rustici was occupied with a prolific clay production. However, we cannot ignore that the present statue has a distinct similarity to several sculptures by Benedetto Buglioni, particularly the figure in high relief from an overdoor lunette (Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, cf. Marquand, p. 19) and a predella panel on an altarpiece in the convent of Santa Elisabetta in Barga (cf. Marquand, p. 105). It is also mentioned in the Salander- O’Reilly catalogue (cf.) that the present work has a similar facture to a figure of Saint Sebastian which, although traditionally attributed to Andrea della Robbia is also now considered to by Buglioni. The modeling of their lower legs and feet, “strongly planar” calves and a ridge along the front of the legs is seen in other figures by Buglioni. Furthermore, the Saint Sebastian resembles the figure of the same saint in a shrine by Buglioni in Montemignaio (cf. Marquand, p. 77). There is no doubt that this sculpture reflects the direct influence of Verrocchio and Leonardo and may in fact depend on a model by Gian Francesco Rustici, Leonardo’s close friend.

RELATED LITERATURE:

A. Marquand, Benedetto and Santi Buglioni, New York, 1972 [reprint of Princeton, 1921];

F. Petrucci (D. Franklin ed.), in Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and the Renaissance in Florence exhibition catalogue, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 29 May – 5 September 2005, Ottawa, 2005, cat.no. 126, pp. 136-127

We wish to thank Giancarlo Gentilini for sharing his research on this sculpture.