# The Temptation of the Magdalene

- By: Jacob Jordaens (Flemish, 1593-1678)
- Date: c. 1616
- Medium: Oil on panel
- Classification: Painting
- Dimensions: 126.2 × 96.8 cm (49 11/16 × 38 1/4 in.); Framed: 155.6 × 130.2 × 12.7 cm (61 1/4 × 51 1/4 × 5 in.)
- Culture: Flanders
- Credit line: Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester Collection; anonymous gift in honor of Kate and Morris Kaplan
- Museum: [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/111613)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/f3ca80bd-48a0-8922-989f-6ba3c308d8cc/full/!1920,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Teens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

In this half-length biblical painting, an aged woman offering tempting jewels—possibly the proprietor of a brothel—and an angel bestowing spiritual guidance battle for the soul of Mary Magdalene. A ghoulish demon emerges from the shadows in the background with a fistful of snakes, a menacing symbol of evil. Jacob Jordaens had already developed his own rich realism, with earthy figures and naturalistic shadows, by the time he executed this early work, probably for an upper-class home in his native Antwerp.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0