Grigory Myasoyedov was a genre and landscape painter. He studied at the Saint Petersburg Academy of Arts. In 1861, he received a small gold medal for the painting “Congratulating the Young Couple”, and in 1862 — a large gold medal for his graduation project “The Flight of Grigory Otrepyev from the Inn” (depicting a scene from Pushkin’s “Boris Godunov”). He was the founder and member of the Society for Travelling Art Exhibitions (the Peredvizhniki group of artists).

The museum’s collection presents one of the artist’s earliest works, “Magdalene in the Desert”. The study was painted during a trip abroad, which lasted from 1862 to 1869 and was sponsored by the Academy of Arts after his graduation.

The artist visited France, Italy and Spain, getting acquainted with the main achievements of world art. In the 1820s, Europe witnessed a rising popularity of Realism in art. After seeing the work of European painters, Myasoyedov became sure that art needed to be brought closer to the viewer and that Realism would challenge the strict canons of academism.

In 1869, Myasoyedov returned to Russia with the idea of founding the Peredvizhniki society and a study “from life in full size”.

An oil study on a biblical subject is a rare occurrence among the works of the Peredvizhniki artists. From Myasoyedov’s letter to Somov and Szemiot (October 1863, Florence):

The work is based on the European iconography of the “Penitent Mary Magdalene” subject.

The motif of Magdalene’s asceticism was inspired by the biography of Mary of Egypt, who lived in the 5th century. According to Byzantine religious legend, she was a repentant prostitute. In the 9th century, the attributes and the biographies of the saints must have been mixed up, and their stories became conflated. That is, the conflation of penitent Mary of Egypt with Mary Magdalene contributed to the perception of the latter as a sinner.

The study was acquired by the museum at the Leningrad “Art Salon — Exhibition No. 1” in 1986. It was unknown who the painter was, and the work itself needed restoration. In 1987, the exhibit was restored by specialists from the All-Russian Art Research and Restoration Center named after Academician Igor Grabar in Moscow. During the cleaning of the canvas, the signature “Gr. Myasoyedov” was revealed in the bottom right corner.