Carved and originally polychromed. The reverse is partly worked.

The polychromy has been removed. Traces of red paint can still be seen on the back of the shoulders. The sculpture has later been reworked, particularly in the face. The plinth and lower section of the sculpture (up to and including the knees) have been entirely replaced.

…; from an unknown owner, fl. 70, to the Koninklijk Oudheidkundig Genootschap, Amsterdam, 1875; on loan to the museum, since 1885

Object number: BK-KOG-651

Credit line: On loan from the Koninklijk Oudheidkundig Genootschap

Although still firmly rooted in late-gothic sculpture, a number of observable renaissance-like details in the clothing – specifically, the style of the sleeves and the billowy drapery folds at the level of the waist above the left knee – justify a dating of circa 1530-40 for this object. Determining the Mary Magdalene’s origin is a more difficult matter, however, in part because the statue was later reworked and entirely renewed from the knees down. Leeuwenberg situated this statue in the Northern Netherlands, but without further elucidation.¹¹J. Leeuwenberg with the assistance of W. Halsema-Kubes, Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1973, p. 107. The overall style and the highly defined, almost graphic detailing are by no means the product of later modifications alone, and are indeed more characteristic of Northern Netherlandish or Lower Rhenish sculpture than works produced in the Southern Netherlands.

Bieke van der Mark, 2024

J. Leeuwenberg with the assistance of W. Halsema-Kubes, Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1973, no. 102

B. van der Mark, 2024, 'anonymous or , Mary Magdalene, , c. 1530 - c. 1540', in F. Scholten and B. van der Mark (eds.), European Sculpture in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/20035584