Flemish school; ca. 1600. "Mary Magdalene supported... Lot 21

Flemish school; ca. 1600. "Mary Magdalene supported by angels". Oil on copper. Presents frame of the late nineteenth century adapted. Measures: 21 x 16 cm; 32,5 x 17 cm (frame). Influenced by a mannerist aesthetic, the author presents a work of religious theme; Mary Magdalene accompanied by two angels. The lengthening of the canon, the disposition of the corporal postures, added to the cold, almost metallic tonalities, show the influence of the mannerist style in the conception of this piece. Mary Magdalene is mentioned in the New Testament as a distinguished disciple of Christ. According to the Gospels, she housed and materially provided for Jesus and his disciples during their stay in Galilee, and was present at the Crucifixion. She was a witness of the Resurrection, as well as the one in charge of transmitting the news to the apostles. She is also identified with the woman who anointed Jesus' feet with perfumes before his arrival in Jerusalem, so her main iconographic attribute is a knob of essences, like the one shown here. Alone, Mary Magdalene is usually represented, doing penance in the desert, repentant for her past sins. Covered in rags and with a skull, in allusion to her sufferings as a penitent, meditating on the Holy Scriptures. The story of this saint serves as an example of Christ's forgiveness, and conveys the message of the possibility of redemption of the soul through repentance and faith. While Eastern Christianity honors Mary Magdalene especially for her closeness to Jesus, considering her "equal to the apostles," in the West the idea developed, based on her identification with other women in the Gospels, that before meeting Jesus she had engaged in prostitution. Hence the later legend narrates that she spent the rest of her life as a penitent in the desert, mortifying her flesh. In art she was preferably represented in this way, especially in the 17th century, a time when Catholic societies felt a special fascination for the lives of mystics and saints who lived in solitude in wild places, dedicated to prayer and penance. The theme of the Magdalene, moreover, offered the possibility of representing a beautiful woman who shows some parts of the anatomy then considered taboo, such as the feet or the breast, but who in her respects decorum because she is mortified flesh that expresses repentance for her past sins.