Die lesende Maria Magdalena

The Magdalen Reading

The Magdalen is identified by her jar of ointment. The headless figure behind her is probably Saint Joseph. The truncated figure kneeling on the left - shown at full-length in a drawing which appears to record the composition is Saint John the Evangelist.

This painting is a fragment, apparently from the right-hand side of a large altarpiece which no longer survives. The whole altarpiece probably showed the Virgin and Child in the centre with attendant saints on either side.