[1] The painting depicts Mary Magdalene who spent many years in the desert atoning for her sins.

The darkening sky, at the right, shows a tree that seems to be facing the wind.

Unlike his 1531 version of the same subject, Titian has covered Mary's nudity and introduced a vase, an open book and a skull as a memento mori.

In the background the sky is bathed in the rays of the setting Sun, with a dark rock contrasting with the brightly lit figure of Mary.

[2] The artwork was acquired from the Barbarigo Gallery in Venice, Italy and entered the Hermitage in 1850.