Maria Madalena (Mary Magdalene) - The Master of the Parrot

Maria Madalena (Mary Magdalene) - The Master of the Parrot
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Óleo sobre painel - 74x62


This vibrant, crisp, and enchantingly detailed portrayal of Mary Magdalene is a characteristic work of the Master of the Parrot, an anonymous yet highly accomplished hand active in Antwerp and possibly Bruges in the second quarter of the sixteenth century. A contemporary of the Master of the Female Half-Lengths, this artist shares some stylistic affinities with Pieter Coecke van Aelst, with whom he may have trained. In an important 1949 article, Max J. Friedländer first identified a group of paintings by this artist, who he aptly named after the exotic birds that appear in a number of the compositions given to the master. As this group has grown over the years, so have thoughts about this master, now thought possibly to be a group of Flemish artists working together in the same workshop in Antwerp, one that specialized in devotional images for the wealthy bourgeois population. Consistent stylistic elements found throughout the works ascribed to this master are elegant and finely painted females with slightly oval faces and fingernails, long necks and fingers, wide foreheads and delicate eyebrows, all of which are visible in the present picture.
This painting is a particularly captivating depiction of Mary Magdalene, who was a very popular subject for artists and collectors in Flanders in the sixteenth century. She is seen here set before a stone niche and a clothe of honor adorned with pearls and gold brocade, her lavishly attired figure filling the composition. An ermine mantel lined with black velvet is draped over her shoulders, partly covering her elegant gown edged with gold brocade, and a large gold crucifix with a fleur-de-lis is draped around her neck on a thick gold chain. A shimmering blue sash is looped around her waist, serving as a striking contrast to the rich red velvet near the cuff of her sleeves. She wears a large sapphire ring, and her opulent headdress is adorned with rubies, pearls, and gold. In her right hands she holds an elaborate gold ointment jar set atop a devotional book, while in her left she holds a pink flower, symbolizing a belief that she was the bride of Christ. Before her is a stone ledge with a raised edge, upon which rests cherries, a knife, and a sheathed dagger, while behind her are particularly distinct and inventive landscapes that recall the work of Joachim Patinir.
The free and sketchy underdrawing rendered with a liquid medium and applied with a brush is revealed through infrared images of the present painting. Such imaging also unveils a number of compositional changes to the design made by the artist, including shifts in the hands, details of the costume, and the face, such as her left eye.