Lot Essay
This alluring representation of Mary Magdalene reclining in a grotto-like space before a vast landscape is one of the finest works by the Master of the Prodigal Son. Having cast off nearly all of the vestments of her previous sinful life – she retains her pearl and jewel-encrusted diadem – the Magdalene stares at a crucifix while resting on her attribute, an ointment jar, which serves as a marker of her virtue, recalling the moment she humbly anoints Christ’s feet. She is draped in a white cloth, whose animated drapery folds are artfully arranged to expose the supple flesh of her upper torso. Enticing and sensual, the saint recalls the recumbent Venuses of the Italian Renaissance while simultaneously inspiring religious contemplation. The contemporary viewer would have immediately identified the majestic rock formation that dominates that panel as a representation of La Sainte-Baume where according to legend, Mary Magdalene lived for thirty years in penance for the sins that she committed before her conversion. According to legend, after Christ's Passion, Mary Magdalene travelled to France via Marseilles, eventually retreating to a grotto in the wilderness near Aix-en-Provence. Each day, angels would carry her up into heaven, where she was greeted and nourished by the chanting of the celestial hosts, as seen here at upper left. During the Middle Ages, La Sainte-Baume and the Magdalene's grave in St. Maximin - a village near the mountain where it was believed that she died and was buried - both became popular pilgrimage sites, particularly for Flemish travelers.
Named after the large panel depicting the parable of the Prodigal Son (Vienna, Kunsthistoriches Museum, inv. no. 986), which had previously been attributed to Jan Mandijn, the as yet unidentified artist of the present work was given his placeholder name by George Hulin de Loo in 1909 (Catalogue du Musée des Beaux-Arts de Gand, Ghent, pp. 55-56). The artist ran a busy and prosperous workshop in Antwerp, working as a painter as well as a designer of tapestries and stained glass. The Master’s work is grounded in the aesthetic championed by Pieter Coecke van Aelst in the 1530s and likely began his training in Coecke’s workshop, or in that of one of Coecke’s close followers. The Master’s impact on the subsequent generation of Antwerp painters is most clearly reflected in the late 1540s and early 1550s paintings of Pieter Aertsen.
In an unpublished study on the present painting, Peter van den Brink suggests that this view of Sainte-Baume may be the earliest known in Netherlandish painting, produced soon after the Archibishop of Arles founded the pilgrimage route in 1516. Although the artist took some liberties, many of the landscape elements are topographically accurate, such as the winding path leading to the plateau, the steep mountainside, the small chapel of St. Pilon at the mountaintop, and the vertical `chimney-like' rock formations on the left side of the mountain. This vista would become a favored subject in the southern Netherlands (see R. Kock, 'La Sainte-Baume in Flemish Landscape Painting of the 16th Century', in Gazette des Beaux-Arts, LXVI, 1965, pp. 273-282), and was often paired with representations of the Magdalene.
The smaller figures that populate the painting may also correspond to events in the life of Mary Magdalene (ibid., p. 60). Specifically, the old, bearded pilgrim with a boy carrying a walking stick at center right, refers to an anecdote from the Golden Legend that describes how a blind man embarked on a pilgrimage to see the Magdalene's relics at Vzelay, where they had been transferred during the time of Charlemagne. When his guide informed him that the church could be seen in the distance, the old man cried out `O holy Mary Magdalene, if only I could sometime be worthy to see your church!' Immediately, his sight was miraculously restored to him.
This was one of the Master of the Prodigal Son’s more successful compositions. It is known in at least nine other versions. The present work, however, is far and away the strongest and most refined, and there is no doubt that this is the prime, autograph version that served as the model for the other, more modest copies, as recently noted by Sandrine Vézillier (loc. cit.). We are grateful to Peter van den Brink for confirming the attribution to the Master of the Prodigal Son on the basis of firsthand examination (19 September 2024).
Named after the large panel depicting the parable of the Prodigal Son (Vienna, Kunsthistoriches Museum, inv. no. 986), which had previously been attributed to Jan Mandijn, the as yet unidentified artist of the present work was given his placeholder name by George Hulin de Loo in 1909 (Catalogue du Musée des Beaux-Arts de Gand, Ghent, pp. 55-56). The artist ran a busy and prosperous workshop in Antwerp, working as a painter as well as a designer of tapestries and stained glass. The Master’s work is grounded in the aesthetic championed by Pieter Coecke van Aelst in the 1530s and likely began his training in Coecke’s workshop, or in that of one of Coecke’s close followers. The Master’s impact on the subsequent generation of Antwerp painters is most clearly reflected in the late 1540s and early 1550s paintings of Pieter Aertsen.
In an unpublished study on the present painting, Peter van den Brink suggests that this view of Sainte-Baume may be the earliest known in Netherlandish painting, produced soon after the Archibishop of Arles founded the pilgrimage route in 1516. Although the artist took some liberties, many of the landscape elements are topographically accurate, such as the winding path leading to the plateau, the steep mountainside, the small chapel of St. Pilon at the mountaintop, and the vertical `chimney-like' rock formations on the left side of the mountain. This vista would become a favored subject in the southern Netherlands (see R. Kock, 'La Sainte-Baume in Flemish Landscape Painting of the 16th Century', in Gazette des Beaux-Arts, LXVI, 1965, pp. 273-282), and was often paired with representations of the Magdalene.
The smaller figures that populate the painting may also correspond to events in the life of Mary Magdalene (ibid., p. 60). Specifically, the old, bearded pilgrim with a boy carrying a walking stick at center right, refers to an anecdote from the Golden Legend that describes how a blind man embarked on a pilgrimage to see the Magdalene's relics at Vzelay, where they had been transferred during the time of Charlemagne. When his guide informed him that the church could be seen in the distance, the old man cried out `O holy Mary Magdalene, if only I could sometime be worthy to see your church!' Immediately, his sight was miraculously restored to him.
This was one of the Master of the Prodigal Son’s more successful compositions. It is known in at least nine other versions. The present work, however, is far and away the strongest and most refined, and there is no doubt that this is the prime, autograph version that served as the model for the other, more modest copies, as recently noted by Sandrine Vézillier (loc. cit.). We are grateful to Peter van den Brink for confirming the attribution to the Master of the Prodigal Son on the basis of firsthand examination (19 September 2024).