Mary Magdalen at the Feet of Christ
Mid-XVIIcentury. Grey-brown wash, Pencil ground on laid paper.Not on display
Mary Magdalen kneels on the floor and kisses the feet of Christ, who is seated at the head of the table with two other diners gesturing in astonishment. An architectural background and drapery frame the composition on the left.
As Mayer has already pointed out, although the subject represents the event of the Magdalen anointing the feet of Christ during the supper at Simon’s house, Sánchez Cantón titled it Supper at Emmaus and associated it with the famous canvas painted for the refectory of the convent of Agustinos Recoletos, known through José del Castillo’s print, with which it has little in common. Mayer considered it to be a study for a painting in a private collection in Madrid that was never painted. Its whereabouts remain unknown. On the basis of this testimony, the Museo del Prado maintains this attribution since there is no evidence of any other drawing by Cerezo using this technique. This fact makes it difficult to verify the attribution to a painter who is still not well known.
Pérez Sánchez, Alfonso E., Catálogo de Dibujos. Vol. I. Dibujos españoles siglos XV-XVII, Madrid, Museo del Prado, 1972, p.81-82
