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when was it sculpted?
1455
what wood was used to make it?
poplar wood
what is the story of Mary Magdalene?
Mary Magdalene was a harlot before she met christ, she is marked by her long red hair
When Christ is resurrected she flees to the desert for 40 years praying, she was a penitent, someone who prays for the forgiveness of their sins
After 40 years she gets miraculously taken up to heaven, a hugely important figure, only three people are taken to heaven without dying e.g. Christ and Mary
why was she a significant figure in Florence during the renaissance?
She stands as a figure who absolves the sins of usury, a beacon of hope for the usurers, through prayer they can be forgiven, e.g. bankers. A reflection of the Florentine society at the time, she offers hope and salvation to the bankers committing the sins of usury
what is wood allusive of?
Wood alludes to femininity, humility and being organic
where is her emaciation most evident?
in her breast plate
she wears nothing but…
her hair
what suggests strength and perseverance?
the muscles in her arms
what highlights her determination?
her foot clinging to the rock at the base
her hands are…
disproportionately large emphasising her prayer and are smooth and youthful, that is the only part of her not tainted by her time in the desert, alluding to her prayer taking her up to the heavens
her hair was…
completely guilded in gold leaf
she could be considered as a spiritual…
reverie, a deep gaze, somewhere between this world and the next
Magdalene is usually depicted as…
a beautiful, youthful woman who had turned to God
the sculpture looks as though it is from the … period
gothic or medieval
who commissioned it and for where?
the cloth guild for the Florence Baptistry
Charles Avery describes her as…
“a mystical expression of faith and penitence remote from Neoplatonist speculations”
