- Museum number
- Oo,9.2
- Description
-
St Mary Magdalene; half-length to left, tears on her cheeks, wearing a laced bodice and a hat tied under her chin with a scarf, holding a pot of ointment in her right hand; after Rogier van der Weyden
Silverpoint on cream-prepared paper
- Production date
- 1452-1465 (c.)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 176 millimetres (chain lines 40 mm apart)
-
Width: 130 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- This sheet has traditionally been described as a study for the figure of the Magdalene on the right wing of the 1452/53 Jean Braque Triptych (with Christ, the Virgin and St John in the centre, and St John the Baptist and St Mary Magdalene on the wings), now in the Musée du Louvre, Paris, inv.no.RF2063. More recently, the drawing has been considered to be a copy, probably made around 1460-1470 by someone in Van der Weyden's circle or workshop: the draped veil is different in the painting's underdrawing and the top part of the Magdalene's left arm is not drawn correctly.
For another drawing showing the same subject see also 1910,0212.204.
Literature: Waagen, I, p.228; M. Friedländer, 'Altniederländische Malerei II: Rogier van der Weyden und der Meister van Flémalle', Leiden, 1934, p.82; A.E. Popham, 'Drawings of the Early Flemish School', London, 1926, cat.no.12; 'Old Master Pictures', Christie's South Kensington, 19 October 1995, p.30, no.99, pl.99; Dirk de Vos, 'Rogier van der Weyden: The Complete Works', Antwerp, 1999. cat.no.B9 (as autograph); Fritz Koreny, 'Early Netherlandish Drawings from Jan van Eyck to Hieronymus Bosch', exh.cat. Rubenshuis Antwerp, 2002, cat.no.19 (as copy after Rogier van der Weyden, c.1460-1470); L. Campbell and J. van der Stock, 'Rogier van der Weyden 1400-1464: Master of Passions', exh.cat. Museum M Leuven, 2009, p.150, fig.65 (as Workshop (?) of Rogier van der Weyden); John Oliver Hand in 'Drawing in Silver and Gold: from Leonardo to Jasper Johns' Princeton and Oxford, 2015, p. 32, pl. 9; Joanna Russell, Judith Rayner and Jenny Bescoby, ' Northern European Metalpoint Drawings: technical examination and analysis', London, 2016, p. 6, 31-39, 77.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
1973, BM, Netherlandish prints and drawings (no cat.)
1990 April-Aug, BM, Treasures of P&D (no cat.)
2002 June-Aug, Antwerp, Rubenshuis, 'Marvels of Delight:...'
2015 May-Jul, Washington, NGA, 'Drawing in Silver and Gold'
2015 10 Sep-6 Dec, London, British Museum, 'Drawing in Silver and Gold'
- Acquisition date
- 1824
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- Oo,9.2