Picturing the Word - July 2021

By Jennifer Nelson

Penitent Magdalene (Titian, 1565)

The feast of St. Mary Magdalene falls on the 22nd of July, so I’ve found a picture of her to share. She was the subject of many Renaissance portraits, but we’re looking at one by Tizino Vecellio, more commonly known as Titian (1487/90-1578).

Magdalene is not her surname. It indicates she is from Magala in Israel.

According to the four canonical gospels she traveled with Jesus as one of his disciples. She witnessed his crucifixion, and was one of the first to find the empty tomb and learn of his resurrection.

Her story has been revised over the years. On the one hand she is said to have been a fallen woman (prostitute) who reformed after hearing Jesus’s

teaching.  At the other extreme she is depicted as Jesus’s beloved and trusted companion (which is sometimes interpreted as wife). She is said to be the woman who crashed a party at a rich man’s house where Jesus was dining, and washed Jesus’s feet with her tears, dried them with her hair, and anointed them with expensive ointment. So the “picture ops” are many—she is frequently shown as a repentant harlot, and sometimes she is shown washing Jesus’s feet.

Titian shows her as the repentant harlot, with abundant hair and her attributes—a jar of precious spice ointment on her right, the beautiful flowing hair, and the skull on her lower left  (which she uses as a book stand).  Though not here, she is also identified with the color red. Her sexuality is emphasized—her dress is low, showing much of her breasts, the shawl weights down the dress. She is crying, her tears expressing the foot-washing medium. As in many of the Renaissance portraits of her, she is gazing toward the sky/heaven, seemingly in repentance.

In fact, Titian’s portrait is called Penitent Mary Magdalene. He painted it in 1565. He has been called “the greatest painter of 16th Century Venice,” and he is known for his paintings of fleshy nudes. He studied in Venice with both Gentili and Giovanni Bellini, and afterward with Giorgione. He is known for his tonal approach, and his evocative and atmospheric landscapes.

I have only scratched the surface of the story of Mary Magdalene, noting the attitude of the early church, which cast her as a harlot, to the later portrayal of her as an independent woman and close companion of Jesus. I think she is fascinating!