Francesco Lupicini (Florence 1590-1656 Zaragoza) - Lot 236

Francesco Lupicini (Florence 1590-1656 Zaragoza) Mary Magdalene Penitent Oil on canvas 74.5 × 63.5 cm. (recent restoration and lining) Our painting is a poignant rediscovery of this rare Florentine painter who settled in Spain, where he developed a synthesis of Florentine grace and Hispanic expressiveness. Lupicini is one of those artists of great merit whose memory was, however, swallowed up by oblivion: Filippo Baldinucci (1625-1696), the biographer of the Florentine school, forgets to mention him in his Notizie of 1681. His career is now better known thanks to recent studies, notably by Francesca Baldassari. Trained in the wake of Lodovico Cigoli and Cristofano Allori in Florence, he developed a style marked by rigorous drawing and a restrained palette. He worked for the Holy Church, notably for the Carmelite Order, in their church of Santa Maria del Carmine in Pistoia ("The Fall of the Manna in the Desert", 1625). One of his masterpieces, dated circa 1625, "Marie se faisant réprimander par sa soeur Marthe", was acquired by his colleague Nicolas Régnier, then by Archduke Leopold-Guillaume of Habsburg, and published in the famous "Theatrum Pictorium" of 1660 (now in Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum, inv. GG-364). Evoking a difficult temperament, some documents report strained relations with both commissioners and fellow artists, perhaps explaining his decision to settle in Spain. Around 1630-1635, he settled in Saragossa, where he produced a major altarpiece for the Chapel of St. Helena in La Seo Cathedral, still in place today. Lupicini must have had a particular devotion to Mary Magdalene, a figure of sensuality and redemption, whom he depicted on at least three occasions. He must have solicited the same female model, whose distinctive physiognomy (high forehead, thin nose, small, slightly pinched mouth) can be found in numerous compositions, notably in "Mary Being Reprimanded by Her Sister Martha" (see above) and "Susanna and the Elders" (former J.E. Safra collection, his sale, Christie's London July 6, 2023, lot 24, current location unknown). We are grateful to Francesca Baldassari, a specialist in the artist, for confirming the attribution in a letter dated July 2025.