DOI issue:
Nr. 3-4
DOI article:Murawska-Muthesius, Katarzyna; Secomska, Krystyna: Mary Magdalen, the counter reformation and the Caravaggisti: are there any more paintings by Antiveduto Gramatica in Poland?
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18945#0135
painting, however, conveys yet another message, a clear allusion to the saint’s
mystical union with Christ. The position of her body, with her head leaning
over her shoulder, her eyes cast down, and her hands crossed on her knees,
refers to the aforementioned engravings by Collaert and Wierix showing the
Magdalen as the Bride of Christ, weeping at his empty tomb.67 Moreover,
another painting, which has been recently re-attributed to Gramatica, the
Magdalen Weeping at the Sepulchre in Vienna,68 also reveals close links to the
Trafalgar composition, thus confirming their symbolic affinities. Finally, the
theme Tulerunt Dominum Meum itself found a rich interpretation in
Gramatica’s oeuvre, and, most significantly in the Polish context of this essay,
there are several versions of this composition in Poland.
III. Tulerunt Dominum Meum
One of them is in the Parish Church of SS John the Baptist and
Bartholomew in Kazimierz Dolny (Fig. 14).
UTULERUNT DOMIINUM] MEUM JOAN[NESJ XX “They have taken
away my Tord”; on the tomb is an inscription in capital letters of a verse from
the Gospel of St John (XX, 13). Above the empty tomb, with the cover cast
aside and the shroud hanging in disarray, Mary Magdalen stands with shrunken
shoulders (Fig. 15). Two angels sit on both sides of the holy woman, keeping
watch over the tomb; one of them, on the left-hand side, lifts his hand in the
gesture of persuasio or explicatio, while the one on the right-hand side gazes
at the viewer, pointing a finger toward the centre of the composition, where
the three crosses of Golgotha are visible on the horizon. On the right hand
side, a gloomy landscape spreads out in the background, a cliff overgrown with
herbs and vines, dark and barely visible.
This painting, executed in oil on canvas (now measuring approximately 1.04
x 1.50m) and contained in a late Renaissance retable dating from ca. 1521, until
recently distinquished itself69 from other versions by its range of clear, light
colours in the foreground. These colours are based on a strong but gently created
contrast of white dominating the centre and the dark scenery in the
middleground, with green and brown accents; the fragment of landscape in the
background, with the azure sky lightening above the horizon and the black
shadows of the three crosses, creates an echo of the foreground group of figures
67 It is interesting to note that the pose of the Magdalen, as engraved by Wierix (following the
composition by Correggio), shows striking affinities with the Penitent Magdalen by Caravaggio in
the Galleria Doria Pamphilj which was interpreted as the Bride of Christ by Calvesi (M. Calvesi,
“Le realtà del Caravaggio. IL”, Storia dell’arte, 55, 1985, pp.259-261), who, however, did not
mention the engraving by Wierix. Not only do the position of the Magdalen’s head bent to her arm,
the tear on her cheak, her hair, and the gesture of her hands crossed on her lap, all point to Wierix,
but so does the pattern on her dress.
68 Papi “Note at Gramatica”, op. cit., p.125, Fig. 29; Riedl, Schleier, “Ein unbekanntes
Hochaltarbild...”, op. cit., p.67; Papi, Antiveduto Gramatica, no. 11.
691 examined the painting in 1979 and again in 1989, when the processes causing the darkening of
the layer of painting had already been revealed, and recently in October of 1996 with K. Murawska.
The painting is scheduled for conservation in the workshops of the National Museum in Warsaw.
125
mystical union with Christ. The position of her body, with her head leaning
over her shoulder, her eyes cast down, and her hands crossed on her knees,
refers to the aforementioned engravings by Collaert and Wierix showing the
Magdalen as the Bride of Christ, weeping at his empty tomb.67 Moreover,
another painting, which has been recently re-attributed to Gramatica, the
Magdalen Weeping at the Sepulchre in Vienna,68 also reveals close links to the
Trafalgar composition, thus confirming their symbolic affinities. Finally, the
theme Tulerunt Dominum Meum itself found a rich interpretation in
Gramatica’s oeuvre, and, most significantly in the Polish context of this essay,
there are several versions of this composition in Poland.
III. Tulerunt Dominum Meum
One of them is in the Parish Church of SS John the Baptist and
Bartholomew in Kazimierz Dolny (Fig. 14).
UTULERUNT DOMIINUM] MEUM JOAN[NESJ XX “They have taken
away my Tord”; on the tomb is an inscription in capital letters of a verse from
the Gospel of St John (XX, 13). Above the empty tomb, with the cover cast
aside and the shroud hanging in disarray, Mary Magdalen stands with shrunken
shoulders (Fig. 15). Two angels sit on both sides of the holy woman, keeping
watch over the tomb; one of them, on the left-hand side, lifts his hand in the
gesture of persuasio or explicatio, while the one on the right-hand side gazes
at the viewer, pointing a finger toward the centre of the composition, where
the three crosses of Golgotha are visible on the horizon. On the right hand
side, a gloomy landscape spreads out in the background, a cliff overgrown with
herbs and vines, dark and barely visible.
This painting, executed in oil on canvas (now measuring approximately 1.04
x 1.50m) and contained in a late Renaissance retable dating from ca. 1521, until
recently distinquished itself69 from other versions by its range of clear, light
colours in the foreground. These colours are based on a strong but gently created
contrast of white dominating the centre and the dark scenery in the
middleground, with green and brown accents; the fragment of landscape in the
background, with the azure sky lightening above the horizon and the black
shadows of the three crosses, creates an echo of the foreground group of figures
67 It is interesting to note that the pose of the Magdalen, as engraved by Wierix (following the
composition by Correggio), shows striking affinities with the Penitent Magdalen by Caravaggio in
the Galleria Doria Pamphilj which was interpreted as the Bride of Christ by Calvesi (M. Calvesi,
“Le realtà del Caravaggio. IL”, Storia dell’arte, 55, 1985, pp.259-261), who, however, did not
mention the engraving by Wierix. Not only do the position of the Magdalen’s head bent to her arm,
the tear on her cheak, her hair, and the gesture of her hands crossed on her lap, all point to Wierix,
but so does the pattern on her dress.
68 Papi “Note at Gramatica”, op. cit., p.125, Fig. 29; Riedl, Schleier, “Ein unbekanntes
Hochaltarbild...”, op. cit., p.67; Papi, Antiveduto Gramatica, no. 11.
691 examined the painting in 1979 and again in 1989, when the processes causing the darkening of
the layer of painting had already been revealed, and recently in October of 1996 with K. Murawska.
The painting is scheduled for conservation in the workshops of the National Museum in Warsaw.
125