When a Florentine confraternity in Venice commissioned from Donatello a statue of John the Baptist, patron saint of Florence, still in the Frari Church there, wood was chosen.

[1] The revised dating of the Saint John had knock-on consequences for a far more celebrated wooden figure, the Penitent Magdalene long in the Florence Baptistery.

Today, being moved after restoration, it can be seen in the Sala della Maddalena in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo in Florence.

The Renaissance art historian Giorgio Vasari mentions the work in his Vite: "In the same baptistery, opposite this tomb, a statue from Donatello's own hand can be seen, a wooden Saint Mary Magdalene in Penitence which is very beautiful and well executed, for she has wasted away by fasting and abstinence to such an extent that every part of her body reflects a perfect and complete understanding of human anatomy.

The work was damaged by the 1966 flood of the Arno, and the restoration process revealed some of the statue's original polychrome paint and gilding.