The Wise and Foolish Magdalene, The Good Widow, and Rogier van der Weyden's Braque Triptych

• Autores: Penny Howell Jolly
• Localización: Studies in iconography, ISSN 0148-1029, Nº. 31, 2010, págs. 98-156
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • The writer proposes that Mary Magdalene appears as both a Foolish and Wise Virgin in Rogier van der Weyden's Braque Triptych, a small devotional triptych (Louvre, Paris) owned by the young widow Catherine de Brabant, who probably commissioned it soon after the death of her husband, Jean Braque, in 1452. The Magdalene's role in this work as both a Foolish and Wise Virgin thematizes penitents' ever-present possibility for transformation, and encourages their timely progress from a state of sin to one of readiness for death and judgment. Such a focus upon the process of the Magdalene's conversion from prostitute to Bride of Christ, a theme that recurs in the Braque Triptych, enables the saint to serve as a most powerful, yet also accessible, intercessor for Catherine de Brabant. The triptych operates most efficaciously as an interactive device for De Brabant to ensure her dead husband's timely departure from purgatory.