Piero di Cosimo’s Magdalene: Art, History, and Women’s Lives in Renaissance Florence
Italian translation of the exhibition catalogue published by SilvanaEditoriale
Rome, Palazzo Venezia, 17 April – 15 July 2026
The VIVE (Vittoriano and Palazzo Venezia) presents the exhibition “Piero di Cosimo’s Magdalene: Art, History, and Women’s Lives in Renaissance Florence”, centered on a precious panel painting by Piero di Cosimo, The Magdalene. When he painted The Magdalene at the end of the fifteenth century, Piero di Cosimo was already recognized as one of the most refined and at the same time most enigmatic artists of his time in Florence. Trained in the workshop of Cosimo Rosselli, he developed a highly personal pictorial language in which the solid teachings of his master and of Domenico Ghirlandaio are enriched with original, at times visionary influences drawn from Flemish painting and the work of Leonardo da Vinci.
In the painting, the Magdalene is not portrayed as a distant or idealized figure, but as a young Florentine woman of the fifteenth century. Around her appear objects belonging to the everyday life of women of the period: garments, a string of pearls, an ointment jar, a letter, and a book. These details open a window onto the world of Renaissance women, revealing their habits, aspirations, and lived contexts.
From this insight emerges the exhibition’s concept, which uses the painting as a key to explore the lives of women in Renaissance Florence and the social and cultural reality that surrounded them.