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Lot Essay
The Dance of Saint Mary Magdalene is one of Lucas van Leyden's largest and most ambitious engravings. In his slightly earlier, large multifigure-compositions, such as the Ecce Homo of 1510 or Calvary of 1517, he presented the central narrative at a safe distance in the middle- or even background. Here, the focus of the composition is pushed to the foreground, whereby the viewer almost becomes part of the action. The festive scene shown here is somewhat fanciful, as it does not depict a specific event relating to the Saint, as written in the bible or the Legenda Aurea. Instead, Leyden chose to depict a moment in the luxurious and sinful life of Mary Magdalene, perhaps as a courtesan, before she encountered Christ and repented. The scene, as a man leads her to dance, surrounded by musicians, pair of lovers, and a fool, could be taken for a purely secular image, a fête champêtre, were it not for her halo. Presumably, this courtly, festive and slightly louche ambiance was precisely the intended appeal of the print. In the distance, we see Mary Magdalene once again enjoying earthly pleasures, as she is shown on horseback, riding briskly ahead of a stag hunting party. Finally and barely noticeable, the Saint's ascension to Heaven is depicted as a tiny detail at the horizon, above the mountain where she had spent the last thirty years of her life as a hermit.
Perhaps because his father was a painter and he did not, unlike Schongauer and Dürer, have a goldsmith's background, Lucas van Leyden seems to have approached the art of engraving quite differently from the older German masters (see lots 1, 3 and 4). His lines appear more finely calibrated and altogether lighter, lending his engravings an almost painterly lyricism and atmosphere. It meant however that his plates wore out more quickly, and even slightly later impressions tend to look hard and flat. As a result, fine early impressions such as the present one are very rare. The present sheet has a Gothic P watermark (New Hollstein 6c), which corresponds with the undoubtedly also early impression in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam (inv. n. RP-P-OB-1706).
Perhaps because his father was a painter and he did not, unlike Schongauer and Dürer, have a goldsmith's background, Lucas van Leyden seems to have approached the art of engraving quite differently from the older German masters (see lots 1, 3 and 4). His lines appear more finely calibrated and altogether lighter, lending his engravings an almost painterly lyricism and atmosphere. It meant however that his plates wore out more quickly, and even slightly later impressions tend to look hard and flat. As a result, fine early impressions such as the present one are very rare. The present sheet has a Gothic P watermark (New Hollstein 6c), which corresponds with the undoubtedly also early impression in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam (inv. n. RP-P-OB-1706).