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Penitent Magdalen, Joseph Heintz the Elder
Heintz's half- length Magdalene is derived from Titian's seminal paintings of the Magdalene, dated ca. 1560. She inhabits a dark desert wilderness, and rests her hand on a skull, the reminder of mortality, while pointing to a crucifix, offering hope for salvation. An angel hovers beside the jar that contained the oils with which she anointed the body of Christ before the entombment, and she raises her eyes toward a ray of light streaming from heaven. While the spare and simple portrayal adheres to the recommendations of the Council of Trent, this exhortation to contemplation and penitence also expresses the Counter Reformation's fervent zeal for spiritual renewal
Heintz was a Swiss-born master active in Italy, Germany, and Prague, who worked in a stylistic vein related to Dutch Mannerism, an area in which the museum has numerous paintings, prints, and drawings. A museum purchase and partial gift of Stephen Mazoh, the Penitent Magdalene supports teaching... [and] the painting's iconography also fills a gap in the collection, which possesses many representations of the prototypical male penitent saint, Jerome.
Heintz was a Swiss-born master active in Italy, Germany, and Prague, who worked in a stylistic vein related to Dutch Mannerism, an area in which the museum has numerous paintings, prints, and drawings. A museum purchase and partial gift of Stephen Mazoh, the Penitent Magdalene supports teaching... [and] the painting's iconography also fills a gap in the collection, which possesses many representations of the prototypical male penitent saint, Jerome.
