Mary Magdalen in Ecstasy

Mary Magdalen in Ecstasy (1606) is a painting by the Italian artist Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610).

Caravaggio's Mary Magdalen in Ecstasy (or variations on that name) exists in at least eighteen copies, of which this version, in a private collection in Rome, illustrated in John Gash's Caravaggio (revised 2003 edition only), has been claimed as the most likely original. The painting was done in the few months following Caravaggio's flight from Rome after the death of Ranuccio Tommassoni on 29 May 1606, while he was in hiding on the estates of his protectors, the powerful Colonna family, and where the primary sources for his life record him painting a Magdalen.

According to a legend popular in Caravaggio's time, after Christ's death his faithful female disciple Mary of Magdala moved to southern France, where she lived as a hermit in a cave at Sainte-Beune near Aix-en-Provence. There she was transported seven times a day by angels into the presence of God, "where she heard, with her bodily ears, the delightful harmonies of the celestial choirs." Earlier artists had depicted Mary ascending into the divine presence through multicoloured clouds accompanied by angels; Caravaggio made the supernatural an entirely interior experience, with the Magdalen alone against a featureless dark background, caught in a ray of intense light, her head lolling back and eyes stained with tears. This revolutionary naturalistic interpretation of the legend also allowed him to capture the ambiguous parallel between mystical and erotic love, in Mary's semi-reclining posture and bared shoulder. The painting was immensely influential for future treatment of the theme by artists such as Rubens and Simon Vouet (who adopted Carvaggio's earth-bound Magdalen but reintroduced the angels), and of course Bernini and his celebrated Ecstasy of St Theresa.

Works by Caravaggio
1593–1594
  • Boy Peeling Fruit (c. 1592)
  • Young Sick Bacchus (c. 1593)
  • Boy with a Basket of Fruit
  • The Fortune Teller (Buona ventura) (c. 1594)
  • Cardsharps (I bari) (c. 1594)
1595–1599
Del Monte paintings
  • The Musicians (c. 1595)
  • Saint Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy (c. 1595)
  • Boy Bitten by a Lizard (c. 1596)
  • The Lute Player (c. 1596)
  • Bacchus (c. 1596)
  • Penitent Magdalene (c. 1597)
  • Rest on the Flight into Egypt (c. 1597)
  • Medusa (c. 1597)
  • Portrait of a Courtesan (Fillide Melandroni) (c. 1597)
  • Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto (c. 1597)
  • Saint Catherine of Alexandria (c. 1598)
  • The Sacrifice of Isaac (Princeton version) (c. 1598)
  • John the Baptist (c. 1598)
  • Martha and Mary Magdalene (c. 1598)
  • Portrait of Maffeo Barberini (1598)
  • Basket of Fruit (c. 1599)
  • Judith Beheading Holofernes (c. 1599)
  • David and Goliath (c. 1599)
  • Narcissus (c. 1599)
1600–1606
Most famous
painter in Rome
  • The Calling of Saint Matthew (1599–1600)
  • The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew (1599–1600)
  • The Conversion of Saint Paul (1600)
  • The Crucifixion of Saint Peter (1601)
  • The Conversion of Saint Paul on the Road to Damascus (1601)
  • Supper at Emmaus (London) (1601)
  • The Calling of Saints Peter and Andrew
  • Amor Victorious (1602)
  • Saint Matthew and the Angel (1602)
  • The Inspiration of Saint Matthew (1602)
  • The Incredulity of Saint Thomas (c. 1602)
  • The Taking of Christ (1602)
  • The Entombment of Christ (c. 1603)
  • Madonna of Loreto (Madonna dei Pellegrini, Pilgrims' Madonna) (c. 1604)
  • The Crowning with Thorns (Prato) (1604)
  • The Death of the Virgin (1604)
  • Saint Francis in Meditation (c. 1603)
  • Christ on the Mount of Olives (1605)
  • Ecce Homo (c. 1605)
  • Saint Jerome in Meditation (c. 1605)
  • Saint Jerome Writing (Borghese) (c. 1605)
  • Portrait of Pope Paul V (1605)
  • Still Life with Fruit (1605)
  • Madonna and Child with St. Anne (Madonna de Palafrenieri, Grooms' Madonna) (1606)
1606–1608
Naples and Malta
  • Mary Magdalen in Ecstasy (1606)
  • Saint Francis in Prayer (Cremona) (1606)
  • Supper at Emmaus (Milan) (1606)
  • The Seven Works of Mercy (1606)
  • The Crucifixion of Saint Andrew (1607)
  • David with the Head of Goliath (Vienna) (1607)
  • Madonna of the Rosary (1607)
  • The Crowning with Thorns (Vienna) (1607)
  • The Flagellation of Christ (c. 1607)
  • Christ at the Column (c. 1607)
  • Salome with the Head of John the Baptist (London) (c. 1607)
  • Saint Jerome Writing (Valletta) (1607)
  • Portrait of Alof de Wignacourt and his Page (1607–1608)
  • Portrait of Fra Antionio Martelli (1608)
  • The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist (1608)
  • Sleeping Cupid (1608)
1608–1610
Sicily and Naples
  • The Annunciation (1608)
  • Burial of St. Lucy (1608)
  • The Raising of Lazarus (1609)
  • Adoration of the Shepherds (1609)
  • Nativity with St. Francis and St. Lawrence (1609)
  • Salome with the Head of John the Baptist (Madrid) (1609)
  • Denial of Saint Peter (1610)
  • The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula (1610)
  • David with the Head of Goliath (1610)
Paintings attributed to Caravaggio

Famous quotes containing the words mary and/or ecstasy:

    “Remember, a woman has to work harder than a man and have more patience in order to achieve success.”
    —Margaret Mary Morgan, U.S. suffragist, print shop owner, and politician. As quoted in Dianne Feinstein, ch. 5, by Jerry Roberts (1994)

    “As a small child, I felt in my heart two contradictory feelings, the horror of life and the ecstasy of life.”
    —Charles Baudelaire (1821–1867)