Titian turned to the image of the repentant Mary Magdalene on several occasions. Among all the paintings he produced on the subject, the one in the Hermitage is the best. It was kept in the artist's studio in his house and a few years after his death it became the property of the patrician Cristoforo Barbarigo to whom Titian's son sold the house together with the paintings. In 1850 Mary Magdalene came into the Hermitage from the Barbarigo Palace collection. According to legend, Mary Magdalene spent many years in repentance in the desert. It is rare to find a female image in Renaissance painting with the emotional power to rival that created by Titian.