The Ecstasy of St. Mary Magdalene (1506): Art, History and Details

The Ecstasy of St. Mary Magdalene (1506) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Lucas Cranach (German, 1472–1553).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

According to medieval legend, Mary Magdalene was a fallen woman until she devoted herself to Christ. During her ascetic life in the wilderness, angels raised her aloft seven times a day to hear the music of the heavenly host while her visions of paradise enhanced her radiance. Interested in reviving classical ideals, Renaissance artists such as Lucas Cranach the Elder gave Mary Magdalene a Venus-like body to personify her divine beauty

Object facts

• Title: The Ecstasy of St. Mary Magdalene
• Date: 1506
• Creator attribution: Lucas Cranach (German, 1472–1553)
• Culture: Germany
• Type: Print
• Technique: woodcut
• Dimensions: Image: 24.6 x 14.5 cm (9 11/16 x 5 11/16 in.); Sheet: 24.6 x 14.5 cm (9 11/16 x 5 11/16 in.)
• Collection: PR - Woodcut
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1973.230

Collection credit

Mr. and Mrs. Charles G. Prasse Collection

Further reading listed by the museum

• “Annual Report for 1973.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 61, no. 6 (June 1974): 179–213.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.