Images: Wikimedia Commons; Web Gallery of Art; Galleria dell’Accademia
Clavis number: ECMA 181
Other descriptors: none
Location: Galleria dell’Accademia, Florence
Inventory number: Inv. 890 n. 8466
Category: panel painting
Related literature: Life of Mary Magdalene, Eremitic Life of Mary Magdalene
Featured characters and locations: Lazarus, Marseille, Martha (of Bethany), Mary Magdalene.
1. DESCRIPTION
Material: tempera on wood panel
Size: 178 × 90 cm
Date: ca. 1280–1285
Provenance: created by the Master of the Magdalen (an unnamed Florentine artist)
Images: central figure draped in hair holding a scroll that reads: Ne desperetis vos qui peccare soletis exemploque meo vos reparate Deo (Do not despair those of you who are accustomed to sin, and in keeping with my example, return yourselves to God; trans. Jansen, p. 234). The scenes framing the image are as follows (viewing left to right):
1. Mary anoints the feet of Jesus.
2. The raising of Lazarus
3. Mary meets Jesus at the tomb.
4. Mary preaches in Marseille.
5. Mary in the desert visited by angel.
6. Angels bring Mary communion.
7. A priest brings Mary communion.
8. The funeral of Mary.
2. RELATION TO APOCRYPHAL LITERATURE
3. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Jansen, Katherine Ludwig. The Making of the Magdalen: Preaching and Popular Devotion in the Later Middle Ages. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000 (pp. 234, fig. 40).
Kaftal, George. Saints in Italian Art. Vol. 1: Iconography of the Saints in Tuscan Painting. 4 vols. Florence: Sansoni, 1978–1986 (cols. 717–24, figs. 808, 810).
Mignozzi, Marcello. “Suspended between Sacred and Profane: The Iconography of Mary Magdalene from its Origins to the Fifteenth Century.” Pages 189–252 in Mary Magdalene from the New Testament to the New Age and Beyond. Edited by Edmondo F. Lupieri. Themes in Biblical Narrative 24. Leiden: Brill, 2019 (pp. 213–14).
Richter, George Martin. “Megliore di Jacopo and the Magdalen Master.” Bur/MC 57 (1930): 223-36.
Tartuferi, Angelo. “Maestro della Maddalena.” Pages 151–56 in volume 1 of Dipinti. Edited by Miklós Boskovits and Angelo Tartuferi. 2 vols. Florence: Giunti, 2003.
Taschl-Erber, Andrea. “Apostola e peccatrice: Ricezione medievale di Maria di Magdala.” Pages 295–318 in Donne e Bibbia nel Medioevo (secoli XII-XV): Tra ricezione e interpretazione. Edited by Kari Elisabeth Børresen and Adriana Valerio. La Bibbia e le donne 6.2. Trapani: Il Pozzo di Giacobbe, 2011.
Vannucci, Viviana. Maria Maddalena: Storia e iconografia nel Medioevo sal III al XIV secolo. Rome: Gangemi, 2012 (pp. 96–100, 145–49).
4. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
“Master of the Magdalen.” Wikipedia.
“Mary Magdalene with Eight Scenes from her Life.” Wikipedia.
Entry created by Tony Burke, York University, 19 November 2024.