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Mary Magdalene
Artist	Alfred Stevens
Year	1887
Medium	Oil on canvas
Dimensions	111.8 cm × 77.3 cm (44 in × 30.4 in)
Location	Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent

Mary Magdalene is an oil on canvas painting by Belgian painter Alfred Stevens. It is Stevens' revision of the Biblical figure of Mary Magdalene. The painting depicts Mary in the form of Sarah Bernhardt, an actress who often posed for portraits by Stevens. The work has been in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent since 2001.

The painting was ordered by the Parisian merchant Georges Petit.

Painting

Alfred Stevens, painter of the mundane life in Paris, met the actress Sarah Bernhardt around 1887. He made several portraits of her. In some of them she posed as a character from history or literature. In this painting we see Bernhardt as Mary Magdalene, the gospel courtesan who later converted and retired as a recluse.

The long hair, the skull - the vanitas symbol par excellence - and the desolate landscape in the background are part of an iconographic tradition that goes back to the Middle Ages. Typical of the nineteenth century is the manifest sensuality and the melancholic, almost hallucinatory gaze wherewith Mary Magdalene looks at the viewer. This blurs the religious context of the character.

The challenging character of the work, yet completely in keeping with the figure of Mary Magdalene, shocked the general public who preferred to see her portrayed as the repentant penitent.

References

1. ^ "Mary Magdalene". Flemish Art Collection. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
2. ^ "Alfred Stevens Mary Magdalene". Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent. Retrieved 20 August 2020.

Sources

• "Alfred Stevens Mary Magdalene". Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
• "Mary Magdalene". Flemish Art Collection. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
• "The Parisian Sphinx". KMSKA. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
• Saskia de Bodt and others: Alfred Stevens. Brussels – Paris 1823-1906 . Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Van Gogh Museum / Mercator Fund, 2009. ISBN 9789061538745
• Guido Kindt Sancta Erotica, How the Church Used Mary Magdalene . Van Halewyck, Leuven, 2002. ISBN 9056174525

External links

• 'Maria Magdalena' op website MSK Gent.
• Verschuivingen in de beeldvorming van Maria Magdalena.
• Artikel over Stevens' 'Maria Magdalena'. Archived 2014-08-19 at the Wayback Machine

v t e Alfred Stevens
1850s	What is Called Vagrancy The Painter and His Model In Memoriam (1858) Will You Go Out with Me Fido?
1860s	In Memoriam (1861) Elegant Figures in a Salon Standing Figure of a Woman Palm Sunday Pleasant Letter The Breakup Letter The Lady in Pink News from Afar Admiring the Portrait Young Woman in White Holding a Bouquet Mademoiselle de Clermont-Tonnerre The Present The Reader Autumn Flowers Hesitation (Madame Monteaux) L'atelier
1870s	Lady Macbeth The Blue Ribbon Young Woman Resting in a Music Room Curious La parisienne japonaise Meditation The Bath The Parisian Sphinx After The Ball (The Confidence) At the Railway Station The Japanese Mask Fall Rêverie (1878) Femme au chapeau de paille The Widow The Attentive Listener
1880s	The Artist in Her Studio (Kunstenares in haar atelier) Young Woman with a Japanese Screen Camille Lemonnier in the Artist's Studio Yamatori All Happiness A Seated Woman in Oriental Dress In Deep Thought Mother and Her Children Mary Magdalene L'étude du rôle Salome In the studio
1890s	Storm at Honfleur Visit to the Studio Puesta de sol

• 1887 paintings
• 1880s paintings
• Paintings in the Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent
• Paintings by Alfred Stevens
• Mary Magdalene in art
• Paintings of Mary Magdalene
• Cultural depictions of Sarah Bernhardt