Nattier, Jean Marc (French, 1685–1766)
Title: A RECLINING LADY AS THE PENITENT MAGDALENE
Technique: oil on canvas
Size: 25 1/4 by 32 in.; 64.1 by 81.3 cm.
PROVENANCE
Paris, Hôtel George V, 14 April 1988, lot 57 (as Attributed to Nattier). EXHIBITED Mexico City, Museo Nacional de San Carlos, María Magdalena: éstasis y arrepentimiento, 17 May-2 September 2001, p. 195, no. 68. LITERATURE X. Salmon, Jean-Marc Nattier, 1685-1766, exhibition catalogue, Versailles 1999-2000, p. 160, under no. 37; O. Delenda, "La Magdalena: ¿una santa francesa?," in María Magdalena: éstasis y arrepentimiento, exhibition catalogue, Mexico City 2001, p. 43, reproduced in color, pp. 114-15, 195. NOTE This rare biblical composition is one of a number of extant repetitions which follow Nattier's prime version located in the Musée du Louvre. Nattier, who focused almost exclusively on elegant and highly fantastical portraits of courtly figures in luxurious fabrics set in allegorical or mythological settings, executed only three specifically biblical pictures in his entire career.1 Though the setting and pose of the figure call to mind more traditional depictions of the penitent Magdalene, her flowing white dress and white satin shoes are antithetical to the more homely depictions--and intended teachings-- of Magdalene paintings. Rather, Nattier appears to have combined the traditional penitent wilderness setting and reclining pose with contemporary fashion. Such syntheses of contemporary figures and antique or historicizing subjects were Nattier's specialty, and became a type for which he would ultimately gain his fame in the court of Louis XV. The identity of the sitter in the present portrait is unknown, though the nineteenth century scholar Fernand Engerand hypothesized that it may portray, rather ironically given the penitent subject matter, Louis XV's first official mistress, Louise Julie de Mailly-Nesle, Comtesse de Mailly (1710-1751).2 She was the first of three sisters who would engage in similar relationships with the King. Hers, which began as early as 1733 and would last until November 1742, when she was exited in disgrace from the Court, only to be replaced by her younger sister, the Marquise de la Tournelle (1717-1744), later Duchesse de Châtearoux. 1. J. Baillio, in G. Pessach (ed.), Landscape of the Bible : sacred scenes in European master paintings, exhibition catalogue, Jerusalem 2000-1. 2. F. Engerand, "Nattier, peintre des favorites de Louis XV," in Revue de l'Art Ancien et Moderne, November 1897, p. 332.