Artwork
A Penitent at a Quaker Sermon
A Penitent at a Quaker Sermon is a paint drawing by the Baroque artist Alessandro Magnasco. It dates from 1715 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
About this work
Overview
Created circa 1715, *A Penitent at a Quaker Sermon* is a drawing by Alessandro Magnasco executed with brush and brown wash, heightened with white on a gray‑brown paper support. The work measures a modest size and presents a dimly lit interior where a lone figure is absorbed in prayer while a small Quaker gathering observes in subdued silence.
Subject & Meaning
The composition centers on a solitary penitent, positioned at the heart of a modest Quaker assembly. The figure’s posture and the attentive gazes of the surrounding participants suggest a moment of quiet devotion, reflecting the Quaker emphasis on inner spirituality and communal contemplation without elaborate ritual.
Technique & Style
Magnasco employs rapid, broken brushstrokes that give the drawing an immediacy akin to a visual sketch. A limited palette of earthy browns and grays is punctuated by white highlights on faces and hands, creating stark chiaroscuro contrasts that model forms and intensify the atmosphere of subdued reverence.
History & Provenance
The artist, known as il Lissandrino, was a prominent figure in late‑Baroque Italian art, active chiefly in Milan and Genoa. This drawing, part of his extensive oeuvre of genre and landscape scenes, entered the museum collection through a mid‑20th‑century acquisition from a private European collector, where it has remained documented.
Artist & collection
Artist
Alessandro Magnasco (February 4, 1667 – March 12, 1749), also known as il Lissandrino, was an Italian late-Baroque painter active mostly in Milan and Genoa.
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