Penitent Magdalen with two flames, Georges DeLaTours (unknown date but could be around 1640 ca)
I might start a series about penitent magdalen, and i'm not sorry about that
The characteristic themes of his first production where often popular, with attention to marginalized or mundane figures and action. In his senior years his themes changed, he prefered painting about human sufference and faith through semple forms and figures, essential expression and formal purity.
During a window of 5-10 years Georges De LaTour paintend a series of Penitent Magdalen, this is the first of the series.
This paintins is inspired by the lights, and shadows of Caravaggios production.
We are in front of a young woman, looking at a candle with a high flame refletcing into a beutiful Baroque style mirror, some jewelry clatters the table. The woman is wearing a nice white shirt and a red long skirt, that almost remember the red drapes caravaggio used in his painting. In her lap she has a skull, and her hands are clasped on it. On her feet a still life of old jewelry. We don't see the face of the woman, she is looking almost behind the mirror into the darkness, unknown to us spectators.
From what we see we can understand what this painting is about, knowing that DeLaTours themes where the trancience of things and the looming death on us.
We see on her lap a skull, the meanings behind it are multiple, she was a follower of Jesus and the skull could meant the golgota (the hill where jesus was crixified) so we can understand that this particular moment in wich we see Magdalen is after the death of jesus. But the skull is also the death, as humans we need to be aware about it.
Clothes are very important, we see that Magdalen has expensive clothes, shes a courtesan, not just any peasant, probably she was the woman of someone important. the red of the skirt symbolizes her past as a free woman, slave of lust, her open shirt is a reference to this life, the hair left loose indicates both the libertine past and the anointing and drying of Christ's feet. But the legends says that after she never cut her hair again.
The jewels scattered all around, however, indicate that Maddalene has now stripped herself of her old life to follow the faith leaving the jewels ment leaving the material goods and her previus life.
Finally the candle that reflects in the mirror, usually the flames represent god and therefore it can be assumed that he is meditating and contemplating god and that he is present with her, the fact that the light is reflected could mean three things: the candle also symbolizes the passage of time and therefore the arrival of death, but it could also symbolize the death and resurrection of Christ since there are two candles because he died twice, or his newfound faith in God.
The mirror indicates magdalen vanity.
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