Mary Magdalen
by GOSSART, Jan, Oil on oak panel, 29 x 22 cm
The unguent jar that she holds in her hands identifies the figure as Mary Magdalen. In terms of style, pose, and composition, Mary Magdalen is presented like a portrait, and indeed, she may represent a young woman in the guise of the saint. This type of representation became popular from the late fifteenth to the beginning of the sixteenth century.