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Europe 1300 - 1800
Course: Europe 1300 - 1800 > Unit 3
Lesson 2: Sculpture and architecture in central Italy- Brunelleschi & Ghiberti, the Sacrifice of Isaac
- Brunelleschi and Ghiberti, Sacrifice of Isaac (quiz)
- Ghiberti, "Gates of Paradise," east doors of the Florence Baptistery
- Brunelleschi, Old Sacristy
- Brunelleschi, Dome of the Cathedral of Florence.
- Brunelleschi, Dome (quiz)
- Brunelleschi, Pazzi Chapel
- Brunelleschi, Pazzi Chapel
- Brunelleschi, Santo Spirito
- Nanni di Banco, Four Crowned Saints
- Orsanmichele and Donatello's Saint Mark
- Donatello, Saint Mark
- Donatello, St. Mark (quiz)
- A soldier saint in Renaissance Florence: Donatello's St George
- Donatello, Feast of Herod
- Donatello, Madonna of the Clouds
- Donatello, David
- Donatello, David
- Donatello, David (quiz)
- Donatello, The Miracle of the Mule
- Donatello, Equestrian Monument of Gattamelata
- Donatello, Mary Magdalene
- Andrea della Robbia’s bambini at the Ospedale degli Innocenti, Florence
- Alberti, Palazzo Rucellai
- Alberti, Palazzo Rucellai
- Alberti, Palazzo Rucellai
- Alberti, Façade of Santa Maria Novella, Florence
- Alberti, Sant'Andrea in Mantua
- Michelozzo, Palazzo Medici
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Donatello, Mary Magdalene
Donatello, Mary Magdalene, c. 1455, wood, 188 cm (Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Florence) Speakers: Dr. Steven Zucker & Dr. Beth Harris. Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.
Want to join the conversation?
- Why or perhaps the better question is HOW did this wood carving last all these years in such great condition? So often we see wood sculpture and it is horribly warped or cracked in museums...(8 votes)
- What type of wood was used in this carving?(5 votes)
- According to Wikipedia she was carved in White poplar.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penitent_Magdalene_%28Donatello%29
Poplar is a wood that is soft to carve, and, according to the source below, is eminently suited to a painted finish. The outer wood is quite light in colour.
http://woodworking.about.com/od/typesofwood/p/Poplar.htm(5 votes)
- What historical notes classify this work as Mary Magdalene and not Mary of Egypt? Iconographical portrayals show Mary of Egypt with long scrappy hair, haphazard garments, and a bony and emaciated figure from a life lived in the wilderness as a hermit after rejecting her rather explicit past.(6 votes)
- At 1.34 After he mentioned the quality of wood, what did he say about its ability to soften 'something' I didn't quite catch that! Thanks in advance(4 votes)
- "And there's something about the organic quality of wood, and its frailty, its ability to soften, to rot, that seems somewhat appropriate here." I think he uses soft as a verb - "to soft, to rot."(4 votes)
- How tall is she?(3 votes)
- The video description states 188 centimeters which is equivalent to about 74 inches or 6 feet and 2 inches.(5 votes)
- How do they know this is Mary Magdalene? This all sounds so much more like St. Mary of Egypt.(3 votes)
- The artist or the patron decides whom the picture depicts. It is always possible that one or the other got his stories mixed up.(4 votes)
- Was this a sculpture commissioned by someone? It seems so different from Donatello's other works.(4 votes)
- so how is the wood still there?(3 votes)
- Are we sure that it is Mary Magdalene? She looks like a man to me after the diet and exhaustive training at the gym. Judging by how David and "Mary Magdalene" look, I think that Donatello was an iconoclast and rebel in his own time.(1 vote)
- Was anyone else aware of the contrast between the emaciated face and almost body-building shoulders and arms. For me they are akin to many of Donatello's earlier male figures. Donatello must have wanted to emphasize the arms since they are not covered by the hair garment.(1 vote)
Video transcript
(upbeat jazz music) - [Steven] We're in
the Museum of the Works of the Cathedral in Florence, looking at a sculpture by Donatello. This is "Mary Magdalene," and it's unusual in that it's wood. - [Beth] Wood is softer than
stone, easier to sculpt, and often is painted
and looks very lifelike and therefore can have an emotional impact that stone or bronze doesn't have. With Donatello, we might think about his bronze figure of David, or we might think about his
stone sculpture of St. George. - [Steven] But wood feels more organic. It feels, in a sense, more like flesh. - [Beth] So we're looking
at the biblical figure of Mary Magdalene, who
appears in the gospels as a close follower of Christ,
someone who loves Christ, and someone who is also a sinner, specifically associated with
the sin of prostitution. - [Steven] And although Mary Magdalene is mentioned numerous times in the Bible, most of what we understand
of Mary Magdalene's life has developed over time. And what we're seeing in
Donatello's sculpture is a woman who fulfills the 15th
century understanding of Mary Magdalene rather
than an understanding that is based only on the gospels. - [Beth] Often in art history, we see Mary Magdalene at
the foot of the cross, very emotional, weeping, sometimes even embracing the cross itself. We often see her in scenes of lamentation by the feet of Christ,
recognizable by her long hair. We also see her in
scenes of the entombment. And we also know that
Mary was the first person to see Christ after his resurrection, and she goes to touch him, and he says, "Don't touch me,
for I have not yet arisen." - [Steven] But what's so interesting is that Mary Magdalene is
one figure in a narrative, in an ongoing story. But what Donatello has
done is to isolate her, to remove all of that narrative apparatus and all of the figures that
traditionally surround her so that she stands alone. - [Beth] There is an earlier
altarpiece here in Florence that shows the standing figure
of Mary Magdalene alone, but that image is surrounded
by stories of her life. - [Steven] Since so much has
been stripped away from her, what is left to identify her? She's dressed only in
her incredibly long hair, which is a traditional
attribute of this figure. - [Beth] According to the
stories of Mary Magdalene, after Christ's death, she spends 30 years in
the wilderness repenting, living the life of a ascetic. So it makes sense to me that
she is so thin and so frail. This is a figure for whom
the spiritual is everything. And the way that Donatello
depicts her reminds us of the primacy of the
spiritual over the physical. - [Steven] He's attenuating the body. Look at the length of the hands that comes together in prayer, but the fingers don't quite touch, creating this beautiful
volume in between those hands. And notice the way that the
artist brings locks of her hair across her face, accentuating
her already high cheekbones. By this time in Donatello's career, the artist fully understood
the anatomy of the body and how to portray a body
in perfect proportion, even having explored the way in which the ancient Romans
had understood the human body. But here, the artist is
taking that knowledge and then willfully distorting
the body, attenuating her, making her much longer than a
normal human being would be. And he's doing this for a
specific emotional effect. - [Beth] Mary Magdalene is
often represented repenting for her sins with her hands in prayer, but she's still beautiful. She's still young. And I think the decision
to represent her as old, as emaciated is a really radical decision. This almost willful turning
away from anything sensuous, anything beautiful very
much speaks to this issue of Mary Magdalene's repentance. It reminds me of figures of the Buddha, who spend many years as an ascetic, looking for transcendence,
often shown emaciated. And I think the central
tension in this sculpture is between the frailty of her body and at the same time these
arms, her upper arms especially, which look youthful and strong. And so there's this tension
between a kind of strength and a kind of physical frailty. I think we're meant to identify with her as a model of how one can sin, but still be forgiven and attain salvation and eternal life in heaven. This is undoubtedly one of the most difficult
Renaissance sculptures, and I'm not surprised
that it's by Donatello, who was often interested
in depicting the intensity of human emotion. (upbeat jazz music)