Portrait of a Woman as the Magdalen

This painting was acquired as the work of Andrea del Sarto in 1912. The figure holds a jar of myrrh, the attribute of the Magdalen. Together with gold and incense, myrrh was a gift to the Christ Child from the Magi, and was used by the holy women who anointed the body of the adult Christ before he was placed in the tomb after the Deposition from the Cross. Puligo often repeated the pose of his sitters from painting to painting, employing a preconceived design adaptable to his patrons’ requirements by easily altering the attributes and the details of setting, and this basic arrangement is found in several of his works. The composition is indebted to portraits by Raphael.