Cleveland Museum of Art

Mary Magdalene Presents Ointment to Jesus (folio 102 verso), from a Mirror of Holiness (Mir’at al-quds) of Father Jerome Xavier

Date

1602–04

Medium

Gum tempera, ink, color, and gold on paper

Culture

Mughal India, Allahabad, made for Prince Salim (1569–1627)

Department

Indian and Southeast Asian Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

While Jesus dined in the house of a Pharisee he was approached by Mary Magdalene, who threw herself to the ground and wept on Jesus’s feet with her tears. She then dried them with her hair and bathed them with expensive ointment. Her veil falls around her shoulders to reveal her hair’s disarray. Only Jesus appears to be calm as he extends his arms in a pacifying gesture; the other men point at their mouths and at each other, astonished at the dramatic behavior of this woman known to have been a prostitute. The plain black carpets and thin application of paint in some areas indicate that this painting was not finished. Proportions of the portico and pavilion reveal some grasp of Renaissance ideals.

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