Workshop of the Master of the Magdalen Legend, 'The Magdalen', about 1510
About the work
Overview
Saint Mary Magdalene is identified by her emblem, the covered pot containing the ointment with which she anointed Christ.
This small panel is one of at least twelve versions of this image. The others are very similar in size, style and technique and may have been mass produced by tracing in the same workshop. All are attributed to an artist known as the Master of the Magdalen Legend after a large dismembered triptych showing episodes from the life of Mary Magdalene, probably painted in the mid-1520s. The Master also painted The Magdalen Weeping (also in the National Gallery collection), which is considerably better drawn and painted.
The artist of this panel was a poor draughtsman: Mary’s cranium is too high and narrow, her eyes are not properly aligned, her nose is too far in profile and her hands are too small and look oddly boneless. But such faults do not preclude an attribution to the Master, who had no facility for drawing.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- The Magdalen
- Artist
- Workshop of the Master of the Magdalen Legend
- Artist dates
- active about 1483 - 1527
- Date made
- about 1510
- Medium and support
- oil on wood
- Dimensions
- 30 × 20.3 cm
- Acquisition credit
- Salting Bequest, 1910
- Inventory number
- NG2614
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
- Previous owners
Provenance
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Lorne Campbell, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Fifteenth Century Netherlandish Schools’, London 1998; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Bibliography
-
1945Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: Early Netherlandish School, London 1945
-
1953M. Davies, The National Gallery, London, Les Primitifs flamands. I, Corpus de la peinture des anciens Pay-Bas méridionaux au quinzième siècle 3, 2 vols, Antwerp 1953
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1955Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: Early Netherlandish School, 2nd edn (revised), London 1955
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1967M.J. Friedländer, Early Netherlandish Painting, eds N. Veronée-Verhaegen and H. Pauwels, trans. H. Norden, 14 vols, Leiden 1967
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1987Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: The Early Netherlandish School, 3rd edn, London 1987
-
1998Campbell, Lorne, National Gallery Catalogues: The Fifteenth Century Netherlandish Paintings, London 1998
-
2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
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.
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