Saint Mary Magdalene at the Foot of the Cross

Saint Mary Magdalene at the Foot of the Cross from 1829 at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston shows Delacroix's early religious painting. The Magdalene's passionate grief embodied the Romantic ideal of overwhelming emotion. Delacroix executed the work with his characteristic broken, energetic brushwork and rich colorism, building up his surfaces in ways that directly influenced the Impressionists who studied his technique at the Louvre after his death.

The grieving figure is rendered with dramatic intensity and warm palette. Delacroix's handling of the Magdalene's emotional abandon creates a powerful image of Romantic sacred devotion.