Rogier van der Weyden
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Rogier van der Weyden was one of the most profound and influential painters of the 15th century. He was internationally famed for the naturalism of his detail and his expressive pathos. He created a range of types for portraits and for religious subjects that were repeated throughout the Netherlands, the Iberian peninsula, and Italy, until the mid-16th century.
A young woman in a sumptuous green gown sits on the floor, deeply engrossed in her reading. Though dressed in 15th-century fashion and set in a medieval interior, she is Saint Mary Magdalene. Beside her rests the pot of oil with which she anointed Christ’s feet, casting a sharp shadow across the floor. Her curved posture—head and legs drawn in around her knees—echoes her quiet absorption in the book.
This panel once formed the lower right corner of a large altarpiece of the Virgin and Child with saints, painted for a church in Brussels. Behind Mary Magdalene, the edge of a male figure is visible, while to her left, another man kneels, the tips of his toes peeking out from beneath a billowing red robe.
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P.P.S. The meticulous detail of this painting was typical of the Netherlandish art of the period. Here's Northern Renaissance through 10 masterpieces!