Italian school, 17th century. "The Ecstasy of Mary Magdalene". Oil on oval panel. Size: 25 x 33 cm; 33 x 41 cm (frame). In this work we see the theme of the penitent Magdalene captured through a dramatic language typical of the Neapolitan Baroque school. Thus, the saint appears with her head thrown back, her gaze turned upwards and an expressive face that reveals ecstasy through a complete languor that only adds to the beauty of the image. The profound influence of the naturalistic Baroque on the Neapolitan school is due to the presence of Caravaggio himself, who stayed in Naples between 1606 and 1607, and shortly afterwards between 1609 and 1610. His direct influence precipitated the stylistic change and led the painters of this school to leave behind the late Mannerism prevailing in those years. The reference work was The Seven Works of Mercy, which Caravaggio painted in 1607 for the high altar of the church of Monte Bella Misericordia. The new language was reaffirmed in Naples with the arrival in 1616 of the Valencian Jusepe de Ribera. Endowed with an accurate sensitivity and a crude interpretation of reality that verges on aggressiveness, Ribera broke with his pasty, expressive brushstrokes the formal idealism that dominated at the time, playing a decisive role in the spread of naturalism in both Naples and Sicily. Another important renovator, one of the first to follow Caravaggio, was Giovanni Battista Caracciolo, who painted a work for the church of Monte Bella Misericordia. Neapolitan Caravaggism was thus based on Caracciolo and Ribera, and was strengthened by the presence of Caravaggio's work and the arrival of Artemisia Gentileschi in 1630. Gentileschi opened the way to a more incisive and tenebrous Caravaggism, which around the same time was combined with the introduction in Naples of the novelties of Roman-Bolognese classicism through the presence of Reni, Domenichino and Lanfranco. Dimensions 25 x 33 cm; 33 x 41 cm (frame).