Day 29: Depicting Mary Magdalene

National Gallery Again

Since my annual pass to get a headset (£12, reimbursed by the program) was definitely in my wallet, I was forced to borrow one. Rachel was nice enough to loan me hers--and since we have the same short curly hair, glasses, and height, I figured that the recent aquiring of such a pass would go unnoticed.

I rode to Tottenham Court, got off at Charing Cross (yeah, all you Muggles!) and went straight to Trafalgar Square. It was a happening place. I put one hand firmly on my purse and looked straight at my destination. The goal for going to the Gallery was simple: Our Bible and Christianity class required a paper on Christian art, any topic we chose. I was quick to decide, based on my previous visit--"Depictions of Mary Magdalene." I simply needed to find more images of her to write some solid paragraphs talking about similarities across artists, places and time periods.

In addition to Titian's Touch Me Not, I found Mary mourning Christ's death, reading the scriptures, seeing Christ resurrected, and being venerated as a saint. Each of these had similar characteristics, such as Mary being depicted in a red dress, with long hair (usually red), and accompanied by a jar of ointment. I learned that traditional Christianity believes Mary to be the woman taken in adultery, as well as the sister of Martha--this sinful past, combined with complete focus on the Savior makes Mary Magdalene someone with whom we can empathize and strive to become. Here's the as yet ungraded paper. Should you steal it, teachers are smart. Also you'll answer to God and all your honest ancestors. :)

September 30 2010
Bible and Christianity
Explication, Art

Depicting Mary Magdalene

Traditional Christianity holds that Mary Magdalene was the sister of Cumbered Martha and was the penitent prostitute who washed the Savior’s feet; these beliefs entirely influence the way she is depicted in Christian art, including her physical appearance and focus, often combining her sinful past and veneration as a saint to inspire our own devotion to God.

Mary has specific traits that identify her in any painting, including a traditional red dress, luxurious hair (usually red), and a bottle of ointment. The ever-present red dress or shawl represents passion and love as well as her scarlet sins as referred to in the scriptures. (Even in Van der Weyden’s The Magdalen Reading, there is evidence that her green dress was painted over red to protect her identity.) Her long hair, though often hidden under a shawl, represents the tresses that cleaned the Savior’s feet; depending on the time period, long red tresses also symbolize promiscuity and even Satanic tendencies. But while the locks are coupled with a jar of oil, the audience remembers the first time we see her in the scriptures, washing His feet as a penitent sinner with oil that “might have been sold to give to the poor” but was offered instead to the King of Kings.

Although some artists depict her less favourably than others, Mary’s complete focus on the Savior (God) is always evident. In Annibale Carracci’s The Dead Christ Mourned, the other women in the painting are looking at the fainted Virgin and at each other for guidance, but Mary is the only one entirely mourning Jesus, her hands thrown up in classical mourning posture and grief apparent on her face. In a veneration painting such as Guido Reni’s Saint Mary Magdalene, she is gazing into heaven with that same look of ecstasy with which she looks at the Savior in Titian’s Touch Me Not. One of the most interesting paintings is Savoldo’s Mary Magdalene, in which Mary seems to be crouching, shrouded in a grey cloak and looks directly out at the audience from the sepulchre. Has her focus on God broken here? If we look closely, her red dress peeps out of the bottom and we realize that her knees are actually just her other hand, which seems to be covering her eyes. Her grief has broken at the sight of someone—is she looking out at the risen Savior, mistaking him as the gardener? Mary is unmistakably and beautifully focused on God every way she is depicted, whether mourning at the tomb, worshipping the living Christ, or simply reading the Bible.

While some argue that her appearance as a sinner is at odds with her sainthood, I believe such juxtaposition makes Mary Magdalene one of the most believable characters in Christian art. She is often depicted with such perfect beings as Christ and the Virgin Mary, people who are without fault and worshipped in traditional Christianity; but alongside this perfection we see a penitent sinner with complete focus on God. Our eyes linger on her expression of mourning in Carracci's "Christ's Body Mourned" or her ecstasy at the veneration. Looking at Mary Magdalene, whether Latter-day Saints or Catholic laypersons, we are better able to think on our own devotion, develop faith in God’s forgiveness and thus achieve redemption as she did.