Landscape with Penitent Mary Magdalene

Workshop of Castrucci Cosimo e Giovanni

This commesso, or Florentine mosaic, was made with different types of jasper from Bohemia, Alsace and Siberia. First mentioned in connection with the Borghese Collection in 1693, it was most likely executed around the first decade of the 17th century in the workshop of Cosimo and Giovanni Castrucci. It depicts a mountain landscape with a small turreted village. The left portion of the scene is dominated by an architectural ruin, with Mary Magdalene in prayer below.

Object details

Commentary

The circumstances and date of the entry of this Florentine mosaic into the Borghese Collection are still unclear. According to Paola della Pergola (1959), the work was purchased in 1634 by Prince Marcantonio Borghese, who through his chamberlain Domenico Baroncino signed several receipts, thus entering into possession of an unspecified number of compositions in ‘fine stone’. Although some critics unhesitatingly accepted Della Pergola’s thesis (Herrmann Fiore 2006), it is marred by the fact that the documents she cited – while undoubtedly attesting to the interest of the Borghese family in this artistic genre – cannot with certainty be associated with the work in question, as they lack precise descriptions.

In addition, as Sara Staccioli rightly observed (1972), Scipione Borghese took an interest in ‘certain flowers made in hardstone’ as early as 1612, which Pietro Strozzi judged to be ‘rare pieces’ in a letter to the rich and powerful cardinal. This document allows us to hypothesise that the works of this kind already formed part of the collection of the Casino di Porta Pinciana in the time of the ambitious and curious cardinal-nephew.

Whichever theory is correct, it is certain that this Landscape became part of the Borghese Collection prior to 1693, when the inventory of the belongings of the Roman palazzo of Ripetta dating to that year lists it as entry no. 267 – the number is still visible in the bottom right hand corner – with the description of a work ‘in Florentine mosaic of a small landscape with ruins with a kneeling figure’ (Inv. 1693). It is cited in later inventories (Inv. 1790; Inventario Fidecommissario) but not mentioned in either Giovanni Piancastelli’s Manoscritto or by Adolfo Venturi (1893), as it was deemed a secondary work.

Together with the Landscape with a Laundress (inv. no. 493) and two other Florentine mosaics in the Borghese Collection (inv. nos 490 and 494), the work has been associated with others produced in Prague by the workshop of Cosimo and Giovanni Castrucci, Florentine artists active at the court of Rudolf II in Prague from 1596 (Staccioli, 1972; Iommelli 2022). Sara Staccioli, who rightly classified the four mosaics into two groups on the basis of the materials used, maintained that the Landscape with Penitent Mary Magdalene corresponds perfectly to a similar composition by the two Tuscan masters, today held at the Kunsthistorisches Museum di Vienna (inv. no. 3006). This close resemblance indeed allows us to attribute the Borghese Landscape to the Castrucci workshop and to propose that it was realised in Prague and then sent to the Borghese family as a gift. Alternatively, it could have been executed in Florence or Rome; it is indeed possible that the two artists visited the Eternal City on one of their continuous journeys between Tuscany and the Kingdom of Bohemia. In support of this thesis, we know that Giovanni Battista Castrucci and his sons Francesco and Silvestro, Florentine goldsmiths and master jewellers of Florentine origin who were most likely related to the two Tuscan masters, were in Rome in the early 17th century (see Bulgari 1958).

Antonio Iommelli