References François-Georges Pariset. "La Madeleine aux deux flammes: Un nouveau Georges de La Tour?" Bulletin de la Societé de l'Histoire de l'Art Français (1961–62), pp. 39–44, ill., proposes attributing the picture to Georges de La Tour and believes it is a late work; despite its seemingly modern design, views the ornate frame of the mirror as a product of La Tour's imagination, recalling engravings by Jaques Callot of around 1630 and Abraham Bosse of around 1640; interprets the discarded jewelry as a sign that the saint has only just renounced her wordly life; discusses the picture's provenance from about 1890.Le Pays Lorrain 43 (1962), pp. 162–66, ill., calls the picture "La Madelaine aux deux flammes" and reports that cleaning has confirmed its attribution to La Tour; remarks that the jewelry at the saint's feet recalls the gold braid worn by the young man in La Tour's "Fortune-Teller" (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York); compares it stylistically to his "Flea Catcher" (Musée Historique Lorrain, Nancy); notes that after restoration the saint's profile appears identical to that of the Virgin Mary in an engraving attributed to Jean LeClerc.Letter to Francis Watson . November 9, 1965, dates the design of the mirror frame and brass candlestick about 1630; identifies the frame as metal, probably silver but possibly silvered or tinned brass, based on the way the ornaments overleaf the mouldings.Letter to Theodore Rousseau . November 23, 1965, dates the design of the mirror frame about 1630.Letter to Anne Poulet . June 10, 1969, based on the tendency towards geometrical forms in the arms and skirt, and the design of the sleeves, assigns our picture to La Tour's middle period, the early to mid-1630s; considers it contemporary with the "Flea Catcher" (Musée Historique Lorrain, Nancy) and places it between the "Hurdy Gurdy Player" (Musée des Beaux-Arts, Nantes) and the "Newborn Child" (Musée des Beaux–Arts, Rennes); groups all La Tour's Magdalens within this same period.Apollo 90 (September 1969), p. 232–33, ill., as probably from the 1630s.The Painter's Light . Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1971, p. 6, no. 7, ill., dates it about 1645.Gazette des beaux-arts 80 (October 1972), pp. 219–20, ill., posits a relationship between La Tour's Magdalens and the convent of Notre-Dame du Refuge, founded at Nancy in 1624 for "filles débauchées," who were urged to venerate the Magdalen; suggests that the Wrightsman Magdalen may be an evocation of the order's founder, Marie Élisabeth de Ranfaing, or some other nun from the convent.Burlington Magazine 114 (August 1972), p. 520, indentifies the Wrightsman picture as the earliest of La Tour's Penitent Magdalens, dating it between 1643 and 1645.Goya (July–August 1972), p. 37.Time Magazine (July 3, 1972), p. 53.Gazette des beaux-arts 80 (October 1972), p. 209.Georges de La Tour . Exh. cat., Orangerie des Tuileries. Paris, 1972, p. 177, no. 19, ill. p. 176, colorpl. 46 and frontispiece, groups it stylistically with the "Flea Catcher" and "Christ and Saint Joseph in the Carpenter's Shop" (Louvre, Paris), dating the three between 1639 and 1643.Art News 71 (Summer 1972), p. 25.in "Paintings, Drawings." The Wrightsman Collection . 5, [New York], 1973, pp. 135–43, no. 15, ill. (color, overall and details), states that the Wrightsman Magdalen is clearly not contemporary with La Tour's late work, nor the daylight scenes that are generally regarded as his earliest efforts; assigns the picture to the artist's middle period, the decade of the 1630s; notes that the same candelstick reappears in La Tour's "Dream of Saint Joseph" (Musée des Beaux-Arts, Nantes); credits Benedict Nicolson with the observation that an early example of the type of mirror frame represented in the picture can be seen in the "Portrait of Anna Eleonora Sanvitale" (Galleria Nazionale, Parma) by Girolamo Mazzola Bedoli, dated 1562.Art in America 61 (July–August 1973), pp. 86–87, ill. in color p. 82.Georges de La Tour: vie et oeuvre . Fribourg, Switzerland, 1973, pp. 56–57, 148–49, 154, no. 40, ill. (color, overall and details), interpret the iconography of this earliest episode in the Magdalen's conversion as a meditation on the theme of vanity, rather than mortality; state that the picture's vigorous coloring and strict geometry distinguish it from La Tour's early nocturns, while its refined technique precludes a late date; date it between the "Dream of Saint Joseph" and the "Flea Catcher", stressing the closeness of the latter composition.Georges de La Tour . Lausanne, 1973, pp. 97, 100, 159, ill. p. 96 (color), relates the "Flea Catcher" to La Tour's Penitent Magdalens, specifically the Wrightsman picture.L'opera completa di Georges de La Tour . Milan, 1973, p. 94, ill. and colorpls. 42 and 44 (overall and details).Georges de La Tour . London, 1974, pp. 36, 38–39, 41, 47, 174, no. 28, ill. (overall and details), propose a date around 1638–40; credit Paul Levi with the discovery of an ormolu picture frame attributed to the circle of Christoph Angemair (d. 1633) in the Bayerishes Nationalmuseum, Munich, which bears a strong stylistic resemblance to the mirror frame in the Wrightsman picture.Georges de La Tour . London, 1977, p. 8.in The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Notable Acquisitions, 1975–1979 . New York, 1979, p. 51, ill. (color), date it between 1638 and 1643.The International Caravaggesque Movement . Oxford, 1979, p. 64, pl. 56 [2nd ed., rev. and enl. by Luisa Vertova, "Caravaggism in Europe," Turin, 1989, vol. 1, p. 134; vol. 2, pl. 906].The Metropolitan Museum of Art . New York, 1980, pp. 302, 324, fig. 543 (color).France in the Golden Age: Seventeenth-century French Paintings in American Collections . Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1982, pp. 75, 253, 355, ill. [French ed., La peinture française du XVIIe siècle dans les collections américaines, Paris, 1982].De La Tour . 1985, p. 65.French Paintings 1500–1825, The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco . San Francisco, 1987, p. 60.Merchants and Masterpieces: The Story of The Metropolitan Museum of Art . rev., enl. ed. New York, 1989, p. 390.in The Ahmanson Gifts: European Masterpieces in the Collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art . Los Angeles, 1991, p. 50, ill., states that the Wrightsman Magdalen has the "abstract quality" of La Tour's work of the mid-1640s.La Tour: Une lumière dans la nuit . Paris, 1992, pp. 102–03, ill. (color, overall and detail).Georges de La Tour . Paris, 1992, pp. 158–61, 290, no. 51, ill. (color, overall and details), discusses the picture's condition; states that it was discovered in the Côte d'Or by H[ubert]. Comte in 1961.Regards sur l'art . Paris, 1993, pp. 71–84.in Los músicos de Georges de La Tour (1593–1652) . Exh. cat., Museo Nacional del Prado. Madrid, 1994, pp. 43–44, ill.Georges de La Tour ou la nuit traversée: Colloque organisé à Vic-sur-Seille à l'occasion du quatrième centenaire de la naissance de Georges de la Tour . Metz, 1994, p. 22.Georges de La Tour ou la nuit traversée: Colloque organisé à Vic–sur–Seille à l'occasion du quatrième centenaire de la naissance de Georges de La Tour . Metz, 1994, pp. 38–39, notes that there is no documentary or physical evidence to suggest that the Wrightsman picture was the first of La Tour's Magdalens.La Tour, le clair et l'obscur . Paris, 1995, pp. 34–35, ill. (color), identifies the Wrightsman picture as the first of La Tour's Magdalens; interprets the mirror, framed like a canvas, as a metaphor for the art of painting.Georges de La Tour and his World . Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1997, pp. 109, 111–14, ill. (color), dates the picture between 1640 and 1644, shortly after the Louvre "Penintent Magdalen"; suggests a meaning for the candle in a quotation from Daniel Cramer's 1624 "Emblematum Sacrorum", where an emblem showing a skull surmounted by a candle being lit by a divine hand illustrates "the light shines in the darkness" (John 1:5) and is accompanied by Cramer's verse "sad and pale death cannot frighten whoever becomes familiar with it by frequent reflection; but with Christ in my heart I can overcome it; it is he who will reilluminate my light after death".Georges de La Tour . Exh. cat., Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais. Paris, 1997, pp. 202–05, no. 39, ill. (color, overall and details), notes that the Magdalen's discarded earings are identical to those worn by the seated woman in the "Cheat with the Ace of Clubs" (Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth); dates the picture between the "Dream of Saint Joseph" and "Christ and Saint Joseph in the Carpenter's Shop".Georges de la Tour: Histoire d'une redécouverte . Paris, 1997, pp. 85, 87, 91, 105, ill. (color).L'Oeil 489 (October 1997), pp. 80–89, sees La Tour's paintings of the Magdalen as representing the lover as depicted in the Song of Songs.Georges de La Tour [Hôtel des Ventes de Neuilly] . Hôtel des Ventes de Neuilly. 1998, pp. 13, 16, ill.La Tour . Milan, 1998, pp. 82–83, ill. (color, overall and detail).in La luce del vero: Caravaggio, La Tour, Rembrandt, Zurbarán . Exh. cat.Milan, 2002, p. 100.in The Wrightsman Pictures . New York, 2005, pp. 146–50, no. 41, ill.in Philippe de Montebello and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1977–2008 . New York, 2009, p. 34.in Philippe de Montebello and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1977–2008 . New York, 2009, p. 32, fig. 44 (color).
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