Orazio Gentileschi and the Medici court

Abstract This article offers the first detailed reconstruction of the collecting history of the Penitent Magdalene, now in the Museo Nazionale di Palazzo Mansi, Lucca, which replicates one of the most successful compositions by Orazio Lomi Gentileschi (1563–1639). Documentary evidence shows that this painting was in the main Medici residence, the Palazzo Pitti, from 1639, just a few months after Orazio’s death, and remained there until 1853, the year in which it was transferred to Lucca. This information sheds new light on the long-neglected appreciation of Orazio Gentileschi at the Medici court, since it represents the first certain proof of the existence of his compositions in the Florentine grand-ducal collections.