"Landscape with Mary Magdalene: Inspiration and Symbolism"

(1582 Antwerp - 1662 ibid.) A pair of landscapes with the penitent Mary Magdalene and Tobias and the Angel. Under a wooded rocky ridge sits Mary Magdalene with flowing long hair and a rayed aura, dressed in a violet robe, a translucent white blouse, and a golden-yellow cloak, her hands resting on a skull. She gazes upward at the sky, where four small angels play on the clouds, and directly above her hovers a larger angel with a martyr's palm and a crown of roses. To her right, Mary Magdalene has placed a cross, with a Bible laying before it; another symbol of her penance is a cloth made of coarsely woven animal hair, standing on the left edge of the painting, from which she will wear a hairshirt 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 view falls onto a deep idyllic river valley where rabbits and deer graze. While these animals and even a squirrel near the cross belong to the European fauna, the artist has placed in the foreground two exotic, luxuriously colored guinea pigs with large beans for feeding. The second painting depicts Tobias with the fish and his dog as traveling companions, accompanied by the protecting and guiding Archangel Raphael. It shows them on the way to Ecbatana or on the return journey, at the moment they emerge from a dense oak forest, with the dog leaping forward. To the right of the painting, a landscape opens up, and two other travelers head toward a farm, in front of which a shepherd lets his flock graze. Adriaen van Stalbemt is one of the best and most significant artists in the tradition of Jan Brueghel the Elder, who particularly influenced him in his landscapes. In 1610, he was admitted as a master to the Lucas Guild in his hometown of Antwerp, where he also served as chairman in 1618/19. As a renowned and successful painter, he created an extensive oeuvre, documented to this day 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. Framed. According to oral information from the deceased expert Klaus Ertz in early August 2023, who saw the original paintings, they are works by Adriaen van Stalbemt. Literature: Klaus Ertz and Christa Nitz-Ertz: "Adriaen van Stalbemt (1580-1662): Critical Catalogue of Paintings, Drawings and Prints", Lingen 2018.