Magdalen in the Desert
c. 1800
Medium
Mezzotint on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Plate: 64.1 × 45.1 cm (25 1/4 × 17 13/16 in.); Sheet: 68.5 × 49 cm (27 × 19 5/16 in.)
Classification
mezzotint
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
108844
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
The handwriting on this sheet, possibly that of a print dealer, identifies it as a mezzotint by Johann Joseph Freidhoff after a painting by Correggio. However, the composition matches no known works by the Italian painter. Indeed, the dealer seems to have conflated this with another Magdalen by Freidhoff after Correggio that was catalogued without a reproduction in the 19th century. Although this print is stylistically close to Freidhoff’s signed works, it remains unclear whether the attribution...