Fine Art

Mary Magdalene predella — History & Facts

These four panels formed the predella, the strip of small scenes beneath the main picture, of an altarpiece Sandro Botticelli painted for the Florentine convent of Sant'Elisabetta delle Convertite, a house for women who had left prostitution. Their subject is the life of Mary Magdalene, the convent's model of repentance. From left to right, she listens to Christ preaching, anoints his feet at the feast in the house of Simon the Pharisee, meets the risen Christ in the garden (the Noli me tangere), and receives her last communion before her death. The panels were painted in tempera on wood around 1484–91; each measures about 18 × 42 cm. Separated from their altarpiece, they now belong to the Philadelphia Museum of Art (John G.

Johnson Collection), while the altarpiece itself, the Holy Trinity with saints, is in the Courtauld Gallery in London.

More Artworks by Sandro Botticelli

Sandro Botticelli's 'Virgin and Child' depicts the Madonna and Jesus with delicate features.

Virgin and Child

Sandro Botticelli

Madonna and Child with the Young St John the Baptist by Sandro Botticelli.

Madonna and Child and the Young St John the Baptist

Sandro Botticelli

Madonna and Child with six angels and Saint John the Baptist as Child by Sandro Botticelli.

Madonna and Child with six angels and Saint John the Baptist as Child

Sandro Botticelli

A crowd of richly dressed figures surrounds the Virgin Mary and Christ Child seated beneath a wooden shelter in front of a crumbling stone wall.

Adoration of the Magi

Sandro Botticelli

This painting depicts the Virgin Mary with the Child Jesus and young Saint John the Baptist.

Virgin and Child with the Young Saint John the Baptist

Sandro Botticelli

Madonna of the Magnificat

Madonna of the Magnificat

Sandro Botticelli

Nine figures in an ornate palace interior show a nude woman pointing upward, a youth seized by a torch-bearing woman, and a crowned king with donkey ears on a throne.

Calumny of Apelles

Sandro Botticelli

A young man with long wavy hair holds a circular medallion showing a bearded saint, standing before a window with a calm expression.

Portrait of a young man holding a roundel

Sandro Botticelli

Christ hangs on the cross supported by God the Father with a white dove above, Mary Magdalene prays barefoot, and the Archangel Raphael leads Tobias carrying a fish.

The Trinity with Saint Mary Magdalene and Saint John the Baptist, the Archangel Raphael and Tobias

Sandro Botticelli

A young woman in strict profile with flowing red hair braided with pearls and a pink ribbon, wearing a ruby ornament and pearl necklace against a black background.

Idealized Portrait of a Lady (Portrait of Simonetta Vespucci as Nymph)

Sandro Botticelli

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More Religious Art

A triptych showing a lush garden with nude figures and animals on the left, a vibrant central panel of nude humans and fantastical creatures, and a dark, fiery hellscape with tortured figures on the right.

The Garden of Earthly Delights

Hieronymus Bosch

Father embraces his son in an etching by Rembrandt van Rijn

The Return of the Prodigal Son

Rembrandt van Rijn

A young woman in a red dress and blue mantle sits on a rock with two children, one holding a small bird, set against a landscape of hills and trees.

Madonna of the Goldfinch

Raphael

Rembrandt's 'The Crucifixion' depicts a dramatic moment in a religious context.

The Crucifixion

Rembrandt van Rijn

Rubens' depiction of Christ on the Cross with Mary, Mary Magdalene, and St John in a moment of profound grief.

Christ on the Cross with Maria, Mary Magdalene and St John

Peter Paul Rubens

A muscular female figure in an orange robe twists her body holding a massive open book above her head, with a young attendant seated behind her.

Libyan Sibyl

Michelangelo

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