ABSTRACT
A final group of Magdalene images reveals yet further metamorphoses in her iconographic type from Rogier’s innovations in the fifteenth century into the sixteenth: full-length Magdalenes in a landscape depicting her grotto at la SainteBaume. While less formulaic than the serial half-length Magdalenes, a number of related works exist, including Adriaen Isenbrant’s Magdalene in a Landscape of ca. 1515-1520 (Plate 15), a circle of Isenbrant Penitent Magdalene from the 1520s or 1530s (Plate 16), and the Master of the Female Half-lengths’ 1520s Landscape with Penitent Magdalene (Plate 17).1 All three depict extensive landscapes with similar figures of the penitent saint recumbent on the ground with her book, her jar and crucifix nearby; all are continuous narratives containing a second episode involving the saint. These paintings reflect the increasing popularity of landscape painting, particularly in sixteenth-century Antwerp, where such works were sold to both local and international customers.
