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Mary Magdalene, Antonio Veneziano (14th C.), Pinacoteca Vaticana. Magnificat July cover In contemplating this “portrait” of Mary Magdalene by Antonio Veneziano, one discerns how, in the crucible of …More
Mary Magdalene, Antonio Veneziano (14th C.), Pinacoteca Vaticana.

Magnificat July cover In contemplating this “portrait” of Mary Magdalene by Antonio Veneziano, one discerns how, in the crucible of the Most Serene Republic, the Italian genius ushered in the art of the Renaissance via a subtle alchemy of influences. Through the reception of French Gothic art of great originality he transmuted the ossified Byzantine forms of the Orient into an innovative rediscovery of ancient art.
Here we see “the sinner of love” represented not as a penitent overwhelmed with remorse, but radiant in the charm of her liberated and redeemed beauty. In her left hand she holds the Gospel, the book of the Good News of salvation, source of the profound joy that illuminates her face. With her right hand, as if bearing a monstrance, she presents the vessel which contained the precious nard that served in advance for the embalming of the Body of Christ. Her free-flowing hair attests that, as a daughter of Eve, she has renounced none of her feminine splendor. Nevertheless it ripples down her shoulders in six tresses, the number which signifies imperfection and the limits of human nature. These locks, well disciplined, as if guided by superior standards of fashion, are arranged upon a dress that borrows its color from the rosa mystica. One seeks in vain for the expression of a more fervent desire and a more vibrant love, now reoriented because healed from the fatal poison of concupiscence.
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In contemplating this “portrait” of Mary Magdalene by Antonio Veneziano, one discerns how, in the crucible of the Most Serene Republic, the Italian genius ushered in the art of the Renaissance via a subtle alchemy of influences. Through the reception of French Gothic art of great originality he transmuted the ossified Byzantine forms of the Orient into an …More
www.magnificat.fr/english/popup_couv.asp
In contemplating this “portrait” of Mary Magdalene by Antonio Veneziano, one discerns how, in the crucible of the Most Serene Republic, the Italian genius ushered in the art of the Renaissance via a subtle alchemy of influences. Through the reception of French Gothic art of great originality he transmuted the ossified Byzantine forms of the Orient into an innovative rediscovery of ancient art.
Here we see “the sinner of love” represented not as a penitent overwhelmed with remorse, but radiant in the charm of her liberated and redeemed beauty. In her left hand she holds the Gospel, the book of the Good News of salvation, source of the profound joy that illuminates her face. With her right hand, as if bearing a monstrance, she presents the vessel which contained the precious nard that served in advance for the embalming of the Body of Christ. Her free-flowing hair attests that, as a daughter of Eve, she has renounced none of her feminine splendor. Nevertheless it ripples down her shoulders in six tresses, the number which signifies imperfection and the limits of human nature. These locks, well disciplined, as if guided by superior standards of fashion, are arranged upon a dress that borrows its color from the rosa mystica. One seeks in vain for the expression of a more fervent desire and a more vibrant love, now reoriented because healed from the fatal poison of concupiscence.