A Sicilian Renaissance Mary Magdalene pedestal in Rabat, Malta : a recent discovery

Abstract

This paper identifies an early sixteenth-century Renaissance marble pedestal that was in a Maltese private collection which has since been donated to the church it was originally commissioned for. The pedestal portrays three scenes in relief relating to the iconography of St Mary Magdalene. Executed in Carrara marble, it is here being associated with a full-length Carrara marble sculpture portraying St Mary Magdalene in the Franciscan Minor’s church of Santa Maria di Gesù in Rabat, Malta. The sculpture has been linked with the oeuvre of followers of the Sicilian school of the Palermitan sculptor Antonello Gagini who was active in Messina for a decade between 1497 and 1507, but it has recently been identified as a work by the Carrarese sculptor who was active in Messina, Giovan Battista Mazzolo. This paper therefore discusses the sculpture and pedestal together as a whole work of art as well as the attribution to Mazzolo.