Magdalena...

Comment

Comment by Resident Curator on October 31, 2013 at 5:34pm

Curator’s Comment:

 

Magdelena is a bewitching portrait- the young girls’ face appears to be robustly chiseled, while forming refined feminine features.  Her expression is serious- maybe slightly concerned if we are to focus in on the small shadows of her otherwise smoothly sculpted forehead. This duplicitous appearance offers an ageless beauty, but correspondingly, a startling allure.  I see that you have contextualized the work within Christian iconography, if not actually identifying the subject as the Magdalene Saint. This adds more intrigue to the representation of her as a child. The glowing wine colored background is an exquisite formal complement to the hue of her golden dress, while the dark shadows of the leaves in her delicate hands are ever so slightly foreboding.  I also appreciate the stillness of her pose.  When viewed next to the adjacent complex multi-figure and stormy narrative Messiah, her stillness implies ever more stoicism, and complex emotional resolve.