The Magdalene 

Lucas Cranach the Elder painted this image of the Magdalene, probably in Germany, sometime in the first half of the 16th century. Cranach’s Magdalene is depicted as a beautiful, wealthy woman. She sits in an idealized landscape with a pot of ointment in her hands. Above her, angels hover in a circle of light, and a castle sits on the hill behind her. Cranach was the court painter in Wittenberg, a city that was a key site for the Reformation. In his art, Cranach found a way to appeal to both Catholic and Protestant audiences. His paintings of religious subjects often emphasized the humanity and emotional lives of holy figures. They show the influence of humanist thought, which focused on human rather than divine matters. To understand this work better, one could consult theological texts from the time, as well as biographies of the artist. By considering such contextual factors, we can understand the meaning of art as something that is contingent on social and institutional context.