Skip to main content

Marten van Heemskerck, 'The Donor and Saint Mary Magdalene', about 1540

About the work

Overview

A statuesque Mary Magdalene, one of Christ’s followers, rests her fingers on the shoulder of a kneeling donor. In the other hand, she nonchalantly lifts a large golden vessel. This is the pot containing the precious ointment with which she anointed Christ’s feet (Luke 7:37). In sharp contrast to her colourful opulence, the donor is a serious-looking middle-aged man dressed as a canon. He appears to be both balding and tonsured.

This is one of two shutters from a triptych (a painting made up of three sections), the central part of which is lost. We are not sure who or where they were made for, but the coats of arms painted on the back of the panels are similar to those of the Hamal and Kersbeke families. The donor may have been a canon whose father was a Hamal and whose mother was a Kersbeke.

Key facts

Details

Full title
The Donor and Saint Mary Magdalene
Artist dates
1498 - 1574
Part of the series
Two Shutters from a Triptych
Date made
about 1540
Medium and support
oil on wood
Dimensions
125.7 × 47.7 cm
Acquisition credit
Bought, 1986
Inventory number
NG6508.2
Location
Not on display
Collection
Main Collection
Frame
17th-century Dutch Frame

About this record

If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.

Images

About the series: Two Shutters from a Triptych

Overview

These two panels formed the shutters of an altarpiece and are painted on both sides. On the front left we see the Virgin Mary and Saint John the Evangelist, and on the right, Saint Mary Magdalene and the donor. The reverses show two bishop saints and coats of arms (unidentified).

The central panel is lost. It was probably, although not certainly, a painting, showing the suffering Christ. If it was a painting, and was put into a frame at the same time as the present old, but not original, frame, its painted surface would have measured about 123.5 by 107.5 cm. Various suggestions have been made as to panels by Marten van Heemskerck which might fit the bill.

Works in the series

A youthful Saint John the Evangelist supports a grey-faced and anguished Virgin Mary. This is one of two shutters from a triptych (a painting made up of three sections), which presumably flanked an image of the suffering Christ.The back is painted too, and shows a bishop holding an open book, sta...
Not on display
A statuesque Mary Magdalene, one of Christ’s followers, rests her fingers on the shoulder of a kneeling donor. In the other hand, she nonchalantly lifts a large golden vessel. This is the pot containing the precious ointment with which she anointed Christ’s feet (Luke 7:37). In sharp contrast to...
Not on display