Saint Mary Magdalene, Model of Penitence

Prints and Drawings

1774/89

Unknown Artist (French, 18th century)
published by Pierre-Fiacre Perdoux (French, c. 1771–1824)

This extraordinary four-sheet popular woodcut makes the saint very much France’s own. Pilgrims in the background on their way to Saint James of Compostela visit the cave where Mary Magdalene is said to have lived in the Saint-Baume mountains near Marseille, having traveled miraculously from the Holy Land. This print was likely sold at Sainte-Baume or another French pilgrimage site. Its borders depict relics of the Magdalene (head, arm, and hair) and a vial of Christ’s blood, all of which still survive despite the looting of their protective golden reliquaries during the French Revolution.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Prints and Drawings

Title: Saint Mary Magdalene, Model of Penitence
Place: France (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1774–1789
Medium: Woodcut in black, hand-colored with brush, stencil and watercolor, on four sheets of cream laid paper (discolored to buff), joined
Dimensions: 585 × 790 (image/block); 665 × 870 (sheet)
Credit Line: Prints and Drawings Purchase Fund
Reference Number: 2014.133
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/221819/manifest.json

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.