Artwork Page for The Ecstasy of St. Mary Magdalene

Details / Information for The Ecstasy of St. Mary Magdalene

The Ecstasy of St. Mary Magdalene

1506

Lucas Cranach

(German, 1472–1553)
Culture
Germany
Medium
woodcut
Measurements
Image: 24.6 x 14.5 cm (9 11/16 x 5 11/16 in.); Sheet: 24.6 x 14.5 cm (9 11/16 x 5 11/16 in.)
Credit Line
Mr. and Mrs. Charles G. Prasse Collection 1973.230
Catalogue raisonné
Hollstein 94
State
II/II
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
Print

Description

According to medieval legend, Mary Magdalene was a fallen woman until she devoted herself to Christ. During her ascetic life in the wilderness, angels raised her aloft seven times a day to hear the music of the heavenly host while her visions of paradise enhanced her radiance. Interested in reviving classical ideals, Renaissance artists such as Lucas Cranach the Elder gave Mary Magdalene a Venus-like body to personify her divine beauty
A vertically oriented woodcut in dense black-inked lines depicts a nude St. Mary Magdalene with long hair being lifted by seven winged children. She looks toward our right with hands held together. Two shields sit in the upper corners. Below her, a landscape features a walled town on our left and a rocky cliff on our right. At the bottom right, a monogram and the number six are inscribed on a stone.

The Ecstasy of St. Mary Magdalene

1506

Lucas Cranach

(German, 1472–1553)
Germany

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