GIOVANNI GIROLAMO SAVOLDO, Mary Magdalene (1535-40) oil on canvas, 89.1 x 82.4 cm, National Gallery London

A woman turns towards us, her raised right hand covered by her silver-grey satin shawl against which she may have been weeping. We can just see the crimson pleats of her full skirt. Behind her is a ruin with six tall arched recesses with foliage sprouting from the walls. This area, particularly the green of the trees and weeds, seems to have darkened and was probably originally easier to see. Beside her an alabaster vase rests on a ledge in front of a niche. Beyond the wall, dawn is breaking over the Venetian lagoon – a church, bell towers and domes are silhouetted against the horizon. The vase suggests that the figure is Mary Magdalene the penitent prostitute in her traditional red dress, who used a jar of perfumed oil to anoint Christ’s feet.

The stunning effects of dawn light on the woman’s shimmering satin shawl and her intimate glance towards us are what make this painting so atmospheric and captivating. Paolo Pino in his Dialogo della Pittura (Dialogue on Painting) of 1548 said Savoldo made ‘truer pictures of reality than those made by Flemish masters’. Fifteenth-century Flemish painters were particularly known for their powers of meticulous observation and ability to create images of extreme realism.

Often subtleties have been lost in the faces Savoldo painted because he daringly placed them in shadow, and the paint has changed over time. Due to the paint’s increased transparency here the underdrawing now shows through with broad black lines outlining the eyelids and the bags under the woman’s eyes as well as her lips and chin. Her hair may have originally been more visible in the shadow of her shawl.

The painting may represent Mary Magdalene visiting Christ’s tomb unaccompanied, as described in the Gospel of John: ‘The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre...’ However, it might be a highly original dramatic ‘close-up’ of her meeting with the resurrected Christ, which followed her discovery of the empty tomb (John 20: 14–16). Here Mary appears to be illuminated as well as enlightened by the person to whom she turns. It is also possible that this is a portrait of a penitent Venetian courtesan in the guise of Mary Magdalene.

There are three other known versions of the painting, all slightly different. The Berlin version, which does not include the vase, is the most famous and the only one to be inscribed with Savoldo’s name. The two other painted versions are in the Palazzo Pitti, Florence (Contini-Bonacossi Collection) and the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles. In all three, the woman has a yellow shawl unlike in the National Gallery version. The London and Contini-Bonacossi pictures are the closest in design and detail and were probably the last in the series, as they are more dramatic by being set at dawn and gain impact through their close-cropped compositions.

The painting was once owned by the grandson of Giovan Paolo Averoldi who commissioned a painting of Saint Jerome from Salvoldo (possibly the Saint Jeromenow in the National Gallery’s collection).

Luke 7:36-50 (NLT)

Jesus Anointed by a SinfulWoman

36 One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have dinner with him, so Jesus went to his home and sat down to eat. 37 When a certain immoral woman from that city heard He was eating there, she brought a beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume. 38 Then she knelt behind Him at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on His feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing His feet and putting perfume on them.

39 When the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, He would know what kind of woman is touching Him. She’s a sinner!”

40 Then Jesus answered his thoughts. “Simon,” he said to the Pharisee, “I have something to say to you.”

“Go ahead, Teacher,” Simon replied.

41 Then Jesus told him this story: “

A man loaned money to two people—500 pieces of silver to one and 50 pieces to the other. 42 But neither of them could repay him, so he kindly forgave them both, canceling their debts. Who do you suppose loved him more after that?”

43 Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the larger debt.”

“That’s right,” Jesus said.44 Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Look at this woman kneeling here. When I entered your home, you didn’t offer Me water to wash the dust from My feet, but she has washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You didn’t greet Me with a kiss, but from the time I first came in, she has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint My head, but she has anointed My feet with rare perfume.

47 “I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown Me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.”48 Then Jesus said to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven.”

49 The men at the table said among themselves, “Who is this man, that He goes around forgiving sins?”

50 And Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”