Catherine of Aragon as the Magdalene

Michael Sittow created this extraordinary portrait of Catherine of Aragon as the Magdalene around 1515, combining royal portraiture with devotional painting. The identification of the young English queen with the penitent Magdalene was both a compliment to her piety and an exercise in the courtly tradition of sacred-profane portraiture. The oil medium allowed for rich tonal transitions and glazed layers of color that created luminous depth impossible with the older tempera technique. Such devotional panels served both liturgical contexts in churches and chapels and private devotional use in the homes of wealthy families who maintained personal altars and oratories.

The panel displays Sittow's exceptional Netherlandish technique with luminous, porcelain-smooth skin modeling and subtle color transitions that place him among the finest portrait painters of his generation.