Mary Magdalene

Provenance

Avogadro family, Brescia, by 1760, inventory after 1760, no. 82 [according to Chizzola and Carboni 1760, p. 179; and MS inventory, L.II.6 m.3, in the Biblioteca Queriniana, Brescia]; by descent to the Fenaroli family, Brescia, Palazzo Fenaroli-Avogadro, by 1820, [see catalogue of Fenaroli collection, 1820]; for relationship between the Avogadro and Fenaroli families, see Lechi, Fedrigolli, and Lechi 2010]; Bartolomeo Fenaroli (died 1869), Brescia, Palazzo Fenaroli-Avogadro, by 1869 [according to Lechi, Fedrigolli, and Lechi 2010, who cite the 1870 inventory of paintings owned by Bartolomeo made upon his death in 1869, l’Archivio Bettoni Cazzago, Brescia]; by descent to his son Gerolamo Fenaroli (died 1880), Brescia, Palazzo Fenaroli-Avogadro, from 1869 [according to Lechi, Fedrigolli, and Lechi 2010, who cite an inventory of paintings owned by Gerolamo made upon his death in 1880]; sold by his heirs in the auction of the Fenaroli collection, Brescia, April 16–19, 1882, either no. 3657 or no. 3661 [the auction catalogue is reproduced in Lechi, Fedrigolli, and Lechi 2010, pp. 66–71]. P. Scalvini Antiquario, Brescia, by 1898 [see da Ponte, 1898]. Thomas Humphry Ward, London [seller’s name given in an annotated copy of the 1904 sale catalogue at Christie’s, London referenced below]; sold Christie’s, London, May 14, 1904, no. 54, to Farrer for 100 gns [according to the annotated sale catalogued referenced above]; Sir William James Farrer (died 1911), Sandhurst Lodge, Wokingham, from 1904; sold Christie’s, London, March 23, 1912, no. 33, to Agnew for 200 gns [according to annotated copies of the sale catalogue at Christie’s, London]; sold by Agnew, London, to Charles Fairfax Murray, 1912 [information recorded in the ledger of Thomas Agnew and Sons, Ltd.]. F. Mason Perkins, Florence, by 1912 [according to a letter from F. Mason Perkins to T. J. Blakeslee dated December 5, 1912, in curatorial file]; sold by Perkins to T. J. Blakeslee (died 1914), New York, by February 23, 1914 [see letter cited above and Gombosi 1943, p. 111.]; sold to Vose Galleries, Boston, February 23, 1914 [according to Vose Galleries ledger, inventory no. 3611, Boston]; sold by Vose Galleries to William Owen Goodman, Chicago, February 5, 1917 [see letter from Robert C. Vose, Jr., to Margherita Andreotti dated May 12, 1988, in curatorial file; also Vose Galleries ledger cited above]; on loan to the Art Institute from 1928; given to the Art Institute, 1935.

Exhibition history

Art Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress, June 1–November 1, 1933, no. 130.

Publications

[L. Chizzola and G. B. Carboni], Le pitture e sculture di Brescia che sono esposte al pubblico con un’appendice di alcune private gallerie (Brescia, 1760), p. 179. Filippo Baldinucci, Notizie de’ professori del disegno, vol. 6 (Turin, 1820), p. 135. Galleria di quadri esistenti in casa Fenaroli in Brescia (Brescia, 1820), p. 13, no. 162. Federico Odorici, Guida di Brescia (Brescia, 1853), p. 192. J. A. Crowe and G. B. Cavalcaselle, A History of Painting in North Italy (London, 1871), p. 401; 2d ed., ed. by Tancred Borenius, vol. 3 (London, 1912), p. 291. S. Fenaroli, Alessandro Bonvicino soprannominato: il Moretto, pittore bresciano (Brescia, 1875), p. 48. Paolo da Ponte, L’opera del Moretto (Brescia, 1898), p. 50. F. Mason Perkins, “Miscellanea,” Rassegna d’arte 15 (1915), p. 123, ill. Giorgio Nicodemi, Gerolamo Romanino (Brescia, 1925), pp. 130, 132, ill. Roberto Longhi, “Recensioni: Di un libro sul Romanino,” L’arte 29 (1926), p. 146; reprinted in Opere complete di Roberto Longhi, vol. 2 (Florence, 1967), p. 104. Adolfo Venturi, Storia dell’arte italiana, vol. 9, pt. 4 (Milan, 1929), p. 203. Georg Gronau, “Moretto, Alessandro,” in Thieme-Becker, Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, vol. 25 (Leipzig, 1931), p. 141. György Gombosi, Moretto da Brescia (Basel, 1943), p. 111, no. 161. Art Institute of Chicago, Paintings in The Art Institute of Chicago: A Catalogue of the Picture Collection (Chicago, 1961), pp. 339–40. John Maxon, The Art Institute of Chicago (New York, 1970), p. 254, ill. Burton B. Fredericksen and Federico Zeri, Census of Pre-Nineteenth-Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1972), pp. 144, 430, 571. Alessandro Bonvicino, il Moretto, exh. cat. (Brescia, Monastero di S. Giulia, 1988), pp. 47, 166, under no. 84, ill. Pier Virgilio Begni Redona, Alessandro Bonvicino, il Moretto da Brescia (Brescia, 1988), pp. 446, 447, no. 115, ill. Christopher Lloyd, Italian Paintings before 1600 in the Art Institute of Chicago: A Catalogue of the Collection (Chicago, 1993), pp. 162–64, ill. Isabella Lechi, “La collezione Avogadro di Brescia,” Arte lombarda nos. 2–4 (1995), pp. 176, 179 n. 19. Isabelle Renaud-Chamska, Marie Madeleine en tous ses états: typologie d’une figure dans les arts et les littérature (Paris, 2008), pp. 200–01, ill.

Data retrieved from the Art Institute of Chicago on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.

Quick Overview

Artist: Moretto da Brescia (Alessandro Bonvicino; Italian, c. 1492/95–1554)
Date: 1540–50
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 166 × 47 cm (65 3/8 × 18 1/2 in.); Framed: 181 × 66.1 × 5.1 cm (71 1/4 × 26 × 2 in.)
Type: Painting
Classification: oil on canvas
Style: sixteenth century
Place: Italy
Department: Painting and Sculpture of Europe
Credit line: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. William Goodman
Accession no.: 1935.161

Open-access museum record · AT-00000804