A woman in men's clothing

We see Saint Pelagia kneeling with her hands folded in prayer in the lower right-hand corner of the picture. She initially lived a licentious life as an actress, dancer and prostitute in Antioch (now Antakya in Turkey) under the name Margarita. After hearing a sermon by Bishop Nonnus of Edessa in 453, she converts and is baptized. She gives all her jewelry and money to the poor and then led a strict hermit's life in a monastery cell on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, dressed as a monk under the name Pelagius. It was only after her death that it was discovered that the revered holy man was a woman.

The painting came to Mainz in 1803 as part of the so-called "Napoleonic Donation". At the time, the city received a collection of 36 paintings (lot no. 9) from Paris by order of the French Minister of the Interior. The works had previously been looted from all over Europe by Napoleon or confiscated in the course of the French Revolution. These works not only form the foundation of the Picture Gallery, but are also among our most valuable pieces.

Napoleon's aim was to create a world museum in Paris (Muséum Central des Arts). This idea gave rise to today's Louvre. But works from royal property were also confiscated, such as this painting, which originally belonged to the mother of the Sun King Louis XIV. She, the French Queen Anne of Austria, had it hanging in her private rooms in the Val-de-Grâce Abbey in Paris. It is part of a cycle of five paintings, all of which depict the lives of holy penitents. One painting from the series is now in Tours, one in Marseille and the other two are still in the Louvre.