Description
While Jesus dined in the house of a Pharisee he was approached by Mary Magdalene, who threw herself to the ground and wept on Jesus’s feet with her tears. She then dried them with her hair and bathed them with expensive ointment. Her veil falls around her shoulders to reveal her hair’s disarray. Only Jesus appears to be calm as he extends his arms in a pacifying gesture; the other men point at their mouths and at each other, astonished at the dramatic behavior of this woman known to have been a prostitute. The plain black carpets and thin application of paint in some areas indicate that this painting was not finished.
Provenance
An Indian family in Great Britain, whose grandfather brought the manuscript to England in the 1930s or 1940s (before 1930s–2005); (Oliver Forge and Brendan Lynch Ltd., London, England, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) (2005); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (2005–)
Mary Magdalene Presents Ointment to Jesus (folio 102 verso), from a Mirror of Holiness (Mir’at al-quds) of Father Jerome Xavier
1602–04
Accession Number
2005.145.102.b
Medium
Gum tempera, ink, color, and gold on paper
Dimensions
Sheet: 26.4 x 15.7 cm (10 3/8 x 6 3/16 in.); Image: 20.5 x 10.3 cm (8 1/16 x 4 1/16 in.)
Classification
Manuscript
Credit Line
John L. Severance Fund