The Magdalene's story

The figure of Mary Magdalene fascinated European artists and patrons. Her story, which by the High Middle Ages incorporated episodes concerning three different figures in the New Testament, as well as numerous additional details, provided rich subject matter for religious art. The Magdalene’s primary role in Christian worship, however, was as a repentant sinner.  

This early 16th-century painting by an anonymous artist now known as ‘The Master of the Legend of the Magdalene’, depicts one of the key moments that became part of her story. While Christ was at supper with Simon the Pharisee, a repentant sinful woman (Mary Magdalene) entered and knelt before Christ to plead for forgiveness. 

She wept so much that her tears wetted his feet, washing them, and then she dried them with her hair.

She then anointed Christ’s feet with the costly myrrh she had brought in a covered jar. This jar became the Magdalene's ‘attribute’ – the object by which the faithful could identify her in images.
 
As a result of the Magdalene's humility and love, Christ absolved her of her sins. 

Mary Magdalene was also believed to have been present at Christ’s Crucifixion and Deposition, the moment when his body was removed from the cross. 
 

In this panel by another anonymous artist, known as ‘The Master of the Saint Bartholomew Altarpiece’, the Magdalene is immediately recognisable by her beauty, her flowing hair and her opulent (somewhat revealing) dress.

The story of the Magdalene’s pilgrimage to Provence, where she was believed to have lived for many years as a hermit, originated in 11th-century France. In depictions of this later part of her life, she is frequently depicted at prayer before a Bible.

She is also often shown deep in contemplation within a cave or makeshift hut.

This panel of 1520 by an artist from Bruges, Albert Cornelis, is a particularly beautiful example of the way many northern European artists used such images of the Magdalene as vehicles for painting detailed landscapes.

One detail of the Magdalene’s legend, much beloved by artists in the Late Middle Ages, told how her hair grew so long that it concealed her nakedness and kept her warm. It also recounted how seven times a day angels descended to lift her up to heaven, where she was given a glimpse of the paradise to come.

In this carved, painted and gilded statue of about 1430 by the German artist Hans Mulcher, the saint – clothed in her golden hair – expresses her spiritual bliss by smiling. The angels around her are beaming too.

In later centuries artists chose to focus on conveying the complexity of the Magdalene’s emotional and spiritual state to the viewer.
 
This painting from 1555–65 is one of many depictions of the penitent Magdalene made by the great Renaissance Venetian artist, Titian.

Here he includes many of the conventional elements the faithful might expect to see in depictions of the Magdalene – great quantities of curling, loose hair and a tear-stained face.

Titian places her against a landscape and the rocky wall of her cave.
 
But above all else he imbues his Magdalene with life – a living, breathing presence.

There is no sign of the Magdalene’s usual attributes ­– no ointment jar, Bible or skull. Her wavy hair is flowing loose, but the clothes she wears are contemporary to the 17th century.