Penitent Magdalen
“So teach us to number our days aright, that we might gain a heart of wisdom…” Psalm 90::12
This piece of original art was sent to me by Bruce Herman, a long distance friend and a respected artist whose work I have admired for a long time. It came during a time when I was wrestling in myself and talking with God about the mystery of the lengths of my days as I have Stage 4 Melanoma and Stage 2 Breast Cancer. The timing of this gift, as well as the subject matter, felt very much of the Lord.
This piece by Bruce Herman, which he rendered completely in orange, with lines and shadowing, is after Penitent Magdalen. The original was painted by French Baroque artist George de La Tour, It is oil on canvas. La Tour painted four versions of The Penitent Magdalen, each one of Mary at a mirror. This one (below) is found in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
Mary was one of the women followers of Jesus. She and other women provided for him and his disciples out of their own means. Jesus had removed seven demons from her. Mary appears throughout the gospels; it is easy to imagine that she was with Jesus and the disciples as they traveled around Galilee. Mary Magdalen was with Mary Jesus’ mother when he was crucified on the cross. After Christ’s death, she went with other women to the garden to take care of his body with spices, only to discover the tomb was empty. My favorite story is how Mary stayed in the garden, where Christ’s tomb was, crying and asking the gardener where he had taken the body of Jesus. The gardener speaks her name “Mary”, and she knows it is Jesus, resurrected.
The first thing I am drawn to in this painting is the gilded frame with the mirror and double image of the candle. From there my eye follows the invisible line toward Mary’s head and her upper body. I see the light shining in the mirror and onto her white skin exposed by the V-shaped drape-y white blouse. My eyes follow down to her red skirt and to her hands folded on the top of the skull resting on her lap. The painting loosely fits into a triangular form, helping my eyes take in the other elements in this scene.
This painting speaks not just through her contemplative face but also through symbolism. The candle sitting on the table and reflecting in the mirror, represents the Light of Christ. See how the light shines both in the darkness and in the mirror, illuminating Mary’s face and her upper body and white blouse? The real candle and its mirrored image give off a double light.
As Mary may have heard Christ say “I Am the Light of the World” as well as “Do not hide your lamp under a bushel” I am drawn to the double lighted image of the flickering candle. In many Rembrandt paintings, the light comes from the outside, such as an upper right corner, and flows down and across the painting. In Penitent Magdalen, as Christopher P. Jones from Thinksheet, says, “With La Tour, his lighting is nearly always inside the picture. It is often the very focus of the attention, glowing like the nucleus of the work, so that all the other features tend to be arranged around this light source, creating a bubble of light and an extreme “vignette” around the outer edges.” It makes sense to me that this light, representing Jesus, is what my eye is drawn to first.
The skull represents death. Shakespeare’s play Hamlet and the famous speech “To Be or Not To Be… that is the question” may come to mind. In this soliloquy, among other thoughts, Hamlet is meditating on death. Many times when the play is presented he is holding up or looking at a skull. Here Mary has the skull on her lap and her fingers intertwined together, resting on the skull.
The gilded mirror and the jewels on the table (and also on the floor, although not easily seen) is said to represent the vanities of the world. Notice how the the jewelry is not easily seen. She seems to have put aside the vain treasures of the world.
Lastly, I wonder why La Tour chose a white blouse and a red skirt. This could symbolize how Christ washed her in his blood and covered her with his righteousness.
What also grabs my attention is how Mary gazes above the mirror and the candle. Is someone coming into the room? Is there a noise somewhere? Can we imagine what she is thinking about?
Is she pondering death? The length of her days? The “vanities” of the world? The light of the world that walked with her? The life that was given to her, Jesus Christ the Messiah, is the light that shines in her and in the world? That one day all the vanities of the world and the death in the world will be no more? And one day, she will see Jesus again, and be fully known?
Although art historians have written or discussed what La Tour may have been seeking to communicate through this painting, Penitent Mary, especially the piece Bruce Herman made for me, offers different thoughts to me.
It reminds me to keep praying Psalm 90:12 “Teach me to number my days a right that I might gain a heart of wisdom.” (thinking of the skull). But I also think of the good promise in the Bible:, “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness does not overwhelm it” (the candle). And then I remember, “For now we see through a glass clearly, but then face to face, for now I know in part, but will know fully, as I am fully known.” The shadow of cancer and death, although a reality, is not the final reality. Jesus light and the hope of seeing him face to face and fully knowing whatever there is to fully know, is the reality.
The first year of cancer, which also included the shadow of COVID, a small framed picture of Trufflehunter the Badger (from CS Lewis’s Prince Caspian) was the picture/icon that was a reminder to actively remember that Jesus was with me and faithful to me. This was my reminder because in Prince Caspian, Trufflehunter explains that “Badgers never forget”. This year, I have been looking at this piece by Bruce Herman as a reminder to turn my heart and thoughts to Scripture and Jesus and to ask him to help be rest in Him.
Psalm 90:12 has always been a favorite of mine. I love this prayer—that God would help me grow in wisdom. The end of this Psalm “May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us and establish the work of our hands for us; yes, establish the work of our hands” has also been a favorite verse. As I am living days that only God knows the number of, I want to live well, even when I’m weary of the unknown or anxious about cancer tumors. I want God to keep giving me good work to do. And I want his light to shine in my darkness and out into the places God has put me.
Learn more about Bruce Herman and his work here. I delight in his dream-like use of colors and placement of gold, as well as how he brings out faces or bodies in his work.
