Mary Magdalen
Bernardino Luini·1524
Historical Context
Mary Magdalen from 1524 by Bernardino Luini depicts the penitent saint who was one of the most frequently represented female figures in Italian Renaissance art. Luini's treatment of the Magdalen combined the allure of feminine beauty with the spiritual gravity of repentance Oil on canvas, increasingly preferred over panel in the sixteenth century, offered greater flexibility for large-scale compositions The work is now in the collection of Walters Art Museum in Baltimore.
Technical Analysis
The saint is rendered with Luini's characteristic soft modeling and idealized beauty, the Leonardesque sfumato creating a contemplative atmosphere appropriate to the penitential subject.
