"Landscape with Mary Magdalene: Inspiration and Symbolism"

(1582 Antwerp - 1662 ibid.) A pair of landscapes with the repentant Mary Magdalene and Tobias and the angel. Beneath a wooden rocky ridge sits Mary Magdalene with flowing long hair and an aura of rays, dressed in a purple garment, a translucent white blouse, and a golden-yellow cloak, her hands resting on a skull. She looks up at the sky, where four small angels play on clouds; directly above her hovers a larger angel with a martyr's palm and a wreath of roses. To her right, Mary Magdalene has placed a cross, with a Bible laid before it; another symbol of her repentance is a cloth standing on the left edge of the painting, made of roughly woven animal hair, from which she will wear a hair shirt in the future. Her faith also protects Mary Magdalene from imminent dangers, such as a rat-like creature approaching her from the right. To the right of the painting, the gaze falls on a deep, idyllic river valley where rabbits and deer graze. While these animals and even the squirrel next to the cross belong to European fauna, in the foreground the artist has placed two exotic, luxuriously colored guinea pigs with large feeding beans. The second painting depicts Tobias with a fish and his dog as companions on a journey, accompanied by the protecting and guiding archangel Raphael. It shows them on their way to Ecbatana or on the return journey, at the moment they emerge from a dense oak forest, and the dog leaps forward. To the right of the painting, the landscape opens up, and two other travelers head toward a farm, in front of which a shepherd allows his flock to graze. Adriaen van Stalbemt is one of the finest and most significant artists in the tradition of Jan Brueghel the Elder, who particularly influenced him in his landscapes. In 1610, he was accepted as a master into the Guild of Saint Luke in his hometown of Antwerp, of which he also served as chairman in 1618/19. As a renowned and successful painter, he created an extensive body of work, which to this day is documented by around 330 paintings. The artist's works can be found, among others, in museums in Amsterdam, Antwerp, Berlin, Cologne, Leipzig, and Schwerin. Oil on copper. 50 cm x 65 cm. Frame. According to oral information from the late expert Klaus Ertz in early August 2023, who saw the original paintings, they are works by Adriaen van Stalbemt. Literature: Klaus Ertz and Christa Nitze-Ertz: "Adriaen van Stalbemt (1580-1662): A Critical Catalogue of Paintings, Drawings, and Prints," Lingen 2018.