The Many Faces of Mary Magdalene
Luis de Morales was celebrated for his devotional images.
Their exquisite facture and morbid sensibility made them perfect vehicles for meditation and earned him the epithet "El Divino."
He was the favorite painter of the religious reformer and saint Juan de Ribera (1532 - 1611).
As one prominent scholar has noted:"No Spanish painter was ever to surpass Morales in expressing the passionate, personal faith of the mystical writers."
This extremely fine picture was owned by Pope Pius VII and passed to his family upon his death in 1823.