Lucas van Leyden (c. 1494-1533), Dance of Mary Magdalene, 1519, Engraving, 40 x 48.4 cm, 1961.1.

Mary Magdalene’s reputation as a courtesan has a long history. In the fourth century, Pseudo-Basil of Caesarea quoted the Christian bishop Amphilochius of Iconium in one of his homilies. According to this, Amphilochius already had described Mary Magdalene as a sinner and a prostitute. In Dance of Mary Magdalene, Lucas van Leyden invented a new iconography to address old ideas about the saint. This engraving presents the saint's life in three episodes. Although Mary Magdalene is the only character with a halo, the artist also insisted on her worldly sensuality in the foreground. Surrounded by couples and musicians, she holds the hand of a noble man. At the intermediate level, Mary Magdalene hunts on horseback, in another expression of her life of pleasure. Finally, in the background, van Leyden represented the assumption of the saint carried by the angels, although it is not visible in this version. In other copies of the print, van Leyden thus creates a trajectory between the courtesan and the repentant, insisting on the need for penance.