The Ecstasy of St. Mary Magdalene

Lucas Cranach (German, 1472–1553)

1506

Medium

woodcut

Classification

Print

Dimensions

Image: 24.6 x 14.5 cm (9 11/16 x 5 11/16 in.); Sheet: 24.6 x 14.5 cm (9 11/16 x 5 11/16 in.)

Culture

Germany

Museum

Cleveland Museum of Art, Prints

Credit line

Mr. and Mrs. Charles G. Prasse Collection

Rights

Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.

Who can see it

Teens profiles and older: its museum says too little about what it shows to place it for younger viewers. How works are placed

View at the Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

According to medieval legend, Mary Magdalene was a fallen woman until she devoted herself to Christ. During her ascetic life in the wilderness, angels raised her aloft seven times a day to hear the music of the heavenly host while her visions of paradise enhanced her radiance. Interested in reviving classical ideals, Renaissance artists such as Lucas Cranach the Elder gave Mary Magdalene a Venus-like body to personify her divine beauty

• The Northern Renaissance
• Prints
• 1500s
• Germany