Half-Length of Mary Magdalene [verso] c. 1565 - 1567

Editor: Here we have Federico Barocci’s "Half-Length of Mary Magdalene," dating from about 1565 to 1567. It’s a pencil and charcoal drawing with a somber and intimate feel. I'm curious, what jumps out at you about this work? Curator: Immediately, I'm drawn to the materiality. It's a study, a verso piece, meaning the ‘back’ of something - possibly a painting? How does this process-driven work reflect the socio-economic structures around artistic production at the time? Think about the labor involved in even creating the materials. The pencils, charcoal, the paper itself— who made them, how accessible were they? Editor: That’s a perspective I hadn't considered. I was so focused on the figure. Is the very act of sketching Mary Magdalene and her portrayal of her perhaps elevating a person, specifically a woman in this time period, which challenged artistic boundaries? Curator: Precisely! And the way Barocci uses these relatively ‘common’ materials, these tools of craft, to depict a religious figure pushes against a hierarchy. Are the traditional boundaries between 'high art' and 'craft' collapsing through the deliberate showing of process and making, almost a window into the artist’s labour? Editor: I see what you mean. Thinking about it in terms of the materials and their social context really reframes how I view the work. Curator: Right, we move past simply admiring the finished product. It is also critical to think of who used the drawing, who handled this paper. Perhaps Barocci reused another piece and supplies. By really looking into it this way, you are not necessarily diminishing Barocci's vision, but really giving us greater clarity to the history behind the art and the cultural framework from which the artwork was made. Editor: I will definitely never look at art the same way again after considering what you said today. Thank you. Curator: My pleasure. There’s a lot to uncover with materialist approaches to art, isn’t there?