Saint Mary Magdalen

This Saint Mary Magdalen by Bartolo di Fredi, painted around 1400, represents one of the most popular saints in medieval devotion. Bartolo di Fredi was a leading Sienese painter of the second half of the Trecento, and this late work shows the continuation of the Sienese Gothic tradition into the early fifteenth century. This work belongs to the Early Renaissance, the transformative period in European art when painters first applied mathematical perspective, naturalistic figure modeling, and archaeological interest in antiquity to the inherited traditions of medieval devotional painting. The tension between Gothic grace and Renaissance structure gives art of this period a distinctive energy.

The panel features Bartolo di Fredi's characteristic use of rich colors and patterned textiles to identify the Magdalen, with the saint rendered in the elegant, elongated proportions favored by Sienese painters.