Mary Magdalene
Moretto da Brescia
1540–1550
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 166 × 47 cm (65 3/8 × 18 1/2 in.); Framed: 181 × 66.1 × 5.1 cm (71 1/4 × 26 × 2 in.)
- Genre
- oil on canvas
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago
Styles
Tags
religionMary Magdaleneoil paintings (visual works)paintingpaintChicago World's Fairs16th CenturyleavescanvaswomanCentury of ProgressLeafreligious figuresyellow (color)Skyoil on canvasoil paint (paint)painting (image making)painting techniquesItaliansixteenth centurytree of lifeworld's fairscloudsoil paintingtreeseuropean paintingfoliageChristianity
About
Mary Magdalene turns to cast a melancholy glance back at the viewer with the gravity and directness typical of Moretto da Brescia’s approach to religious subjects. This painting has been linked to other tall, slender canvases by the artist depicting Saint John the Evangelist, the Samian Sibyl, and King Solomon, in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan. These works may have been segments of an altarpiece or, more likely, part of a series with a decorative rather than liturgical function. The artist effectively combined characteristics of Italian painting from different regions: the realism of his native Lombardy, Venetian color and atmosphere, and the monumentality of Roman models.
