25 - Castilian School. Circa 1700.

Castilian School. Circa 1700. 'Saint Mary Magdalene' Carved, gilded, and polychromed wooden relief. 45 x 31 x 7 cm. We are looking at a particularly fascinating depiction of Mary Magdalene, one of the most popular saints of the Counter-Reformation and the Baroque period, regarded as the archetype of the repentant and penitent woman and, therefore, as the embodiment of repentance, conversion, and meditation on the transience of life. The relief, which likely formed part of a dismantled Baroque altarpiece dating from the early eighteenth century, displays such a pronounced sense of volume that the figure seems to approach sculpture in the round. As is customary in the visual arts, the saint is depicted in her role as a hermit, seated on rocky ground and beside what appears to be the entrance to the cave in which she would have lived—a rugged setting that isolates her from the outside world and encourages spiritual contemplation. In the upper left corner, the sky is reduced to a small bluish triangle from which a ray of supernatural light appears to emerge, directed toward her head and potentially interpretable as a symbolic manifestation of the divine presence. Mary Magdalene bends her torso and head, directing her gaze toward an undefined point beyond the field of vision in an attitude of introspection and meditation. She also appears to rest her left elbow on a small rocky outcrop. While placing her left hand against her chest in a gesture of restrained fervor, she holds a skull in her right hand, resting it on her lap. This attribute, characteristic of her penitential iconography and closely associated with the Baroque vanitas tradition, alludes to the inevitability of death and the transience of earthly vanities. The position of the arms and the tilt of the torso create an enveloping movement that is reinforced by the diagonal arrangement of the composition—particularly evident in the line connecting the face with the hands and the skull—and further extended by the upper edge of the cave. This device, typical of the Baroque, introduces dynamism into a figure whose posture is, by contrast, essentially static and contemplative. The idealized face displays beautiful, soft, and delicate features, with arched eyebrows, small eyes painted directly onto the wood, a nose with slightly accentuated nostrils, and a clearly defined nasolabial groove, as well as a closed mouth with full lips, rosy cheeks, and a slight double chin. The saint wears long hair arranged in sinuous locks that leave the forehead exposed and fall on either side of the face, over the shoulders, and down the back. Some locks extend to the chest, just below the hand placed over her heart. The abundance and arrangement of this hair not only help frame the face but also emphasize her femininity and constitute a prominent element of her iconographic characterization. In contrast to the customary depiction of the penitent Mary Magdalene—covered only by her long hair or dressed in a simple garment made of woven palm leaves—this image features sumptuous attire that seems to evoke her elevated status prior to her conversion. She wears a fitted tunic of a greenish hue with a rounded neckline, over which a voluminous mantle is draped, enveloping almost her entire body and leaving only her left foot exposed, which is rendered with great precision. The rendering of this garment introduces a pronounced sense of dynamism into the composition through the proliferation of narrow, angular folds with sharp edges, reminiscent of the so-called Berninesque or knife-cut folds. Their arrangement fragments the surface of the fabric and multiplies the contrasts of light, creating a succession of highlights and shadows that enhances the sculptural work’s painterly quality. From a chronological and stylistic perspective, the work can be situated within the tradition of early eighteenth-century Castilian sculpture, to which it corresponds particularly well in terms of its stylistic features and morphological characteristics, as well as certain details of its polychromy, executed in flat colors without any additional decoration. We would like to thank Dr. Javier Baladrón, PhD in Art History, for identifying and cataloging this work.