St Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy

Rubens painted Saint Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy around 1619-20, depicting the repentant saint in a state of mystical rapture. The Magdalene, as the archetypal repentant sinner, was one of the Counter-Reformation's most important subjects, embodying the Church's message that even the greatest sinners could achieve salvation through faith and penance. Rubens's sensuous treatment of the saint's beauty and ecstatic gesture creates a characteristically Baroque fusion of physical and spiritual experience. Now in the Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille.

The composition focuses on the Magdalene's upturned face and bare shoulders, lit by a dramatic supernatural light. Rubens' warm flesh tones and fluid brushwork create a powerful image of spiritual ecstasy expressed through physical beauty.

This painting of the Magdalene's ecstasy from 1620 has been conserved with attention to the central contrast between the luminous female figure and the dark background. The canvas has been relined. The dramatic chiaroscuro effects remain powerful after conservation.