Mary Magdalene (Stevens)

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.[2][1]

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.[1][2]

• "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

• '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