Saint Mary Magdalen Penitent

Saint Mary Magdalen Penitent

Hendrick Goltzius

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Goltzius’s elegant engraving of Mary Magdalen is one of his earliest prints to reflect the influence of Bartholomeus Spranger, the court painter to Rudolf II, whose work he was introduced to in 1583. Goltzius depicts several episodes from Magdalen’s life; her interactions with Christ and the moments that led to her becoming a penitent following his death. She is shown half kneeling in a rocky landscape, her hand on a skull, and weeping as she reads from her prayer book. In the foreground is a small but lavishly decorated jar holding the ointment she used to anoint Christ’s feet when he was dining with the Pharisee. In the background atop mount Golgotha, she can be seen again, kneeling at the foot of Christ on the Cross. Partially nude, her drapery wrapped stylishly around her, Mary Magdalen has the exaggerated proportions characteristic of Northern Mannerist art. She appears to be almost weightless, her torso angled slightly back and her left leg barely touching the ground. Her pose echoes a drawing of the Magdalen by Spranger, now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts et Archéologie, Besançon, but is not a direct copy.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Saint Mary Magdalen PenitentSaint Mary Magdalen PenitentSaint Mary Magdalen PenitentSaint Mary Magdalen PenitentSaint Mary Magdalen Penitent

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.