Portrait of Margaret of Austria (1480-1530) as Mary Magdalene

Bernard van Orley's Portrait of Margaret of Austria as Mary Magdalene represents the intersection of portraiture and devotional imagery in the Habsburg court. Margaret of Austria, regent of the Netherlands and patron of arts and learning, commissioned this extraordinary image presenting herself in the guise of Mary Magdalene, a tradition of sacred portraiture where the identities of sitter and saint merged in private devotional function. Van Orley, her court painter, achieved a remarkable synthesis of recognizable portraiture with devotional symbolism. The Magdalene's attribute of the ointment jar and her characteristic red drapery frame the regent's actual features.

The portrait-as-saint combines accurate likeness of the regent with the iconographic attributes of the Magdalene. Van Orley's technique balances the requirements of court portraiture with devotional imagery.