In 2021, Titian's images of women made a grand appearance at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

A year later and just a stone's throw from the museum, such a grace will be auctioned off on May 11th.

The Dorotheum's Old Masters expert Alexander MacDonnell came across a “Penitent Magdalene” in the Venetian master's handwriting in an English private collection.

Titian specialist Paul Joannides confirmed the attribution;

X-raying the canvas revealed changes in compositional details that suggest Titian's autonomy.

The penitent sinner, whose pose is reminiscent of the ancient depiction of Venus pudica, was one of Titian's bestsellers.

The painting was last mentioned in writing in 1859 when it came under the hammer in London for 66 guineas.

His whereabouts were unknown until now.

However, its previous royal owners are documented: In the 17th century, the work was owned by Queen Christina of Sweden.

Magdalena may have been kidnapped from Prague Castle to the far north: Swedish troops plundered the art treasures of Emperor Rudolf II in 1648. Empress Christina, who abdicated early and then lived in Rome as an art patron who converted to Catholicism, bequeathed her collection of paintings to a cardinal;

In 1721 the picture came from the trade to Duke Philip II of Orléans.

The cloak of the kneeling prophet glows blue in the painting "Abraham and the Three Angels" by Artemisia Gentileschi and Onofrio Palumbo.

The oil painting, measuring 144 by 200 centimetres, was probably created around 1640 in Naples when Palumbo assisted the artist.

The estimate is 250,000 to 300,000 euros.

There is a "Madonna dell'Impannata" from Raphael's circle that may have belonged to the collection of the Florentine Altoviti family in the 16th century (estimate 150,000 to 200,000 euros).

The altarpiece "Madonna Enthroned with Child and Saints Sebastian, John the Baptist, Roch and Peter" (150,000/200,000) was created in the Perugino production facility.

The lively scene "Venus and Adonis", in which the flesh tones of the goddess of love attracts attention, is attributed to Tintoretto and workshop (50,000/ 70,000).

In Flemish art, the harvest of still lifes on a stone background is particularly rich at auction.

Abraham Mignon, who was born in Frankfurt, created his Nature Morte in Utrecht, including the panel painting “Peaches, Grapes, a Melon, and Corn Poppies with Other Flowers in a Stone Niche”.

250,000 to 350,000 euros are expected for the 38 by 30 centimeter picture.

Ambrosius Bosschaert II followed in his father's footsteps, who established the Flemish floral still life as a genre in its own right.

His tableau "Fruit basket, mussels, a lizard and insects on a stone tabletop" also reflects the colonial trade of the Netherlands with the oceanic seafood.

The artist “engraved” his signature and the year of origin 1630 into the stone slab (200,000/300,000).