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The Magdalen Weeping

Image credit: The National Gallery, London

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This is Saint Mary Magdalene, one of Christ’s followers, identifiable from the pot of expensive ointment with which she anointed Christ’s feet. This painting was once joined to another panel, and was probably the left wing of a triptych (a painting made of three parts). Mary’s dress is cloth-of-gold with a purple design. Over it, she wears a second dress, open at the front and laced across the other under her breasts. The upper sleeves, now green, were once purple. Her fair hair is covered with a patterned cap and two veils, one semi-transparent, one white. The colourful clothes and expensive textiles allude to her sinful past, although the sleeves and shape of the veil bear some relation to contemporary fashions. We don't know the name of the artist but he is called the Master of the Magdalen Legend after a large triptych, now broken up, showing episodes from the life of Mary Magdalene, probably painted in the mid-1520s.

The National Gallery, London

London

Title

The Magdalen Weeping

Date

about 1525

Medium

Oil on oak

Measurements

H 52.7 x W 38.1 cm

Accession number

NG3116

Acquisition method

Layard Bequest, 1916

Work type

Painting

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Normally on display at

The National Gallery, London

Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England

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