This early work was probably produced for a noble patron in Verona. There has been much debate over the subject matter, but it is now generally believed that the painting shows the conversion of Mary Magdalene. Concerned for her sister’s spiritual health, Martha takes Mary to the Temple to hear Jesus preach. Veronese shows Mary blushing with shame and sunk to her knees as she is overcome by Christ’s words. Her fashionably low-cut dress, inappropriate for a visit to the Temple, is emblematic of her formerly sinful life centred on vanity and pleasure. Converted by this encounter Mary then turns to a life of piety. The jewellery slipping from her neck foreshadows her subsequent renunciation of worldly goods. The picture demonstrates Veronese’s sophisticated and witty approach to narrative and composition: the inward turning curve of the figures on the right is matched by the outward turning one of the architecture seen through the door in the wall on the left. The men bring our gaze to Mary, anchored in the centre by the two columns. Her attention – and with it, ours – is in turn led to Christ by Martha’s pointing hand. His elegant, slightly leaning posture is accentuated by the child disappearing behind the robes of the woman on the left, itself set off against the bright exterior by the silhouetted head of a dog. The scene is absent from the Bible and the Golden Legend but narrated in Pietro Aretino's book 'L'umanità di Cristo' (1535). This modernised version of the Gospels was widely read in Northern Italy and probably constitutes the literary source for the painting.
Burne-Jones had been fascinated by Veronese's paintings since his first two trips to Italy. This painting is almost certainly an influence on the composition of Burne-Jones's Souls by the River Styx. Veronese often cuts his figures bluntly through on the right-hand side of the painting. This painting, which is a prime example, was bequeathed to the National Gallery in 1875 and hung there in 1876. It was not on show before that date. Also Veronese's other compositional gambit is to knock a hole from a darker interior into a sunlit exterior, which is usually to the left-hand side of the painting. This trick was employed often by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema and it is without doubt he got it from studying Veronese's paintings. The gap between the standing figures in Souls by the River Styx also seems to reference this compositional trait.
Paolo Veronese, The Conversion of Mary Magdalene, research information from the National Gallery archives. A letter of 17 Dec 1875 (NG5/482/2) from the executors of Wynn Ellis’s will requests that an order for delivery be sent for the ‘Pictures bequeathed to the National Gallery’. A ‘schedule’ of the Wynn Ellis pictures at 30 Cadogen Place (NG5/484/3), dated 6 Jan 1876 lists the picture in the ‘Gallery’. However, I sense that this might be an inventory made at an earlier stage, before or after Wynn Ellis died, as other correspondence indicates that the Wynn Ellis Esq bequeathed pictures were already at the Gallery by 4th January 1876 (NG5/484/2): ‘now that they have been removed to the National Gallery’. There were concerns that insurance had not yet been secured. There is also correspondence of 19 February 1876 specifically concerning the pictures’ display: ‘The bequest was accepted, and the selection has been made, but the pictures cannot be shown until the Trustees have the new ?rooms. Then the collection will be rearranged, and the Wynn Ellis pictures will have a room to themselves…’ Following is the full run of archive material relating to the work, should you wish to consult material in the National Gallery Research Centre: NG5/193/1 Extracts from the Will and Codicil of the late Wynn Ellis Esq showing bequest of pictures to the National Gallery 18 Nov 1875 NG5/480/1 Wynn Ellis Bequest: letter from Messrs Parker, Lee & Co. sending extract from Will and Codicil (NG927-1020) 30 Nov 1875 NG6/4/137 Letter to Messrs Parker & Lee & Co 8 Dec 1875 NG5/482/1 Wynn Ellis gift - Treasury agreeing to remit probate duty (NG927-1020) 16 Dec 1875 NG5/482/2 Regarding delivery of Wynn Ellis pictures.(NG927-1020) 17 Dec 1875 NG5/483/4 Wynn Ellis pictures (NG927-1020) 24 Dec 1875 NG5/484/1 Wynn Ellis Gift - number of pictures Jan 1876 NG5/484/2 Parker, Lee & Ockerby to R.N. Wornum regarding insurance of pictures 4 Jan 1876 NG5/484/3 Wynn Ellis Gift - inventory of the pictures at 30 Cadogan Place, 1 Claverton Street, 23 &76 Newman Street, 8 Wardrobe Place and 128 Sloane Street (by R.N. Wornum) (NG927-1020) 6 Jan 1876 NG5/484/4 Howard to R.N. Wornum regarding insurance of pictures 27 Jan 1876 NG5/484/5 Horace Seymour to R.N. Wornum regarding question about the National Gallery's acceptance of the Wynn Ellis bequest 19 Feb 1876 NG6/4/154 Letter to Messrs Parker, Lee & Ockerby 30 Mar 1876 NG5/484/6 Parker, Lee & Ockerby to R.N. Wornum regarding acceptance of pictures 1 Apr 1876 NG5/484/7 Parker, Lee & Ockerby to R.N. Wornum regarding collection of rejected pictures by Christie, Manson & Woods 22 Apr 1876 NG5/484/8 Christie, Manson & Woods receipt for Wynn Ellis pictures 24 Apr 1876