Artwork Page for The Ecstasy of Saint Mary Magdalene

Details / Information for The Ecstasy of Saint Mary Magdalene

The Ecstasy of Saint Mary Magdalene

1506

Lucas Cranach

(German, 1472–1553)
Culture
Germany
Medium
woodcut
Credit Line
Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland 1922.110
Catalogue raisonné
Hollstein 94
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 print in dense black-inked fine lines depicts a nude Saint Mary Magdalene suspended in the sky. Seven winged cherubs cluster around her, lifting her body as she gazes downward. Below, a landscape features a walled town on the left and a craggy cliff on the right. Coats of arms adorn the upper corners, and a winged serpent monogram rests on a rock in the lower right foreground.

The Ecstasy of Saint Mary Magdalene

1506

Lucas Cranach

(German, 1472–1553)
Germany

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