Penitent Mary Magdalene by Gentileschi

Penitent Mary Magdalene (c. 1622). Orazio Lomi Gentileschi. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. Image courtesy of Art Knowledge News.

Magdalenes by Guido Reni

The Penitent St. Mary Magdalene (1633). Guido Reni. Image courtesy of Art / 4 / 2Day.

Description from the Art / 4 / 2Day site:

The image of the penitent Mary Magdalene enjoyed great popularity between the late sixteenth century and the first decades of the seventeenth century. Cardinal Baronius, in his hard-hitting polemics against Protestantism, employed the subject (along with that of the penitent St Peter) to emphasize the necessity and validity of penance, a sacrament discarded by the reformers. The penitent Magdalene was something of a iconographic specialty for Reni, who painted various versions to please a public that prized them and continually requested them. A splendid example of the mature style of Reni, this painting is characterized by a profound classicism in the monumental and noble figure of the saint. The refined chromatic range, lit by a cold and silvery light, is also typical of Reni's art in the 1630's.

Another version:


The Penitent St. Mary Magdalene (1635). Guido Reni. Image courtesy of Art / 4 / 2Day.

Penitent Magdalene by Creti

The Penitent Magdalene. Donato Creti (1671-1749) Agnew's, London, UK. Image courtesy of St. Mary Magdalene on Flickr.

Caravaggio - Penitent Magdalen

Penitent Magdalen (c. 1593-1594). Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi). Galleria Doria Pamphilj, Rome. Image courtesy of Olga's Gallery.

Notice the Grail on Magdalen's underdress. The Galleria Doria Pamphilj's website mentions that:

. . . the provenance of this picture is uncertain. It is mentioned, however, in an eighteenth-century inventory with a frame which displays the Aldobrandini arms, a detail which perhaps allows us to deduce that it originally belonged to the collection of Pietro.