01 Work, Interpretation of the bible, Friedrich Sturm's The Penitent Magdalene, with Footnotes #203

Friedrich Sturm

The Penitent Magdalene

Porcelain, wood

89.5cm x 64cm

Private collection

Sold for 2,000 GBP in November 2017 

Mary Magdalene,  literally translated as Mary the Magdalene or Mary of Magdala, is a figure in Christianity who, according to the Bible, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers. She is said to have witnessed Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection. Within the four Gospels she is named more than most of the apostles. Based on texts of the early Christian era in the third century, it seems that her status as an “apostle" rivals even Peter's.

The Gospel of Luke says seven demons had gone out of her. She is most prominent in the narrative of the crucifixion of Jesus, at which she was present. She was also present two days later when, she was, either alone or as a member of a group of women, the first to testify to the resurrection of Jesus. John 20 and Mark 16:9 specifically name her as the first person to see Jesus after his resurrection.

During the Middle Ages, Mary Magdalene was regarded in Western Christianity as a repentant prostitute or promiscuous woman, claims not found in any of the four canonical gospels. More Mary Magdalene

Friedrich Sturm, also Fritz Sturm (1823–1898) was an Austrian artist known for his decorative art and paintings of animals and flowers.

Sturm was born in Vienna. He started out as a student of his father, who was a porcelain and enamel painter, and then attended the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna. He then went on a study trip to Serbia and Hungary, where he worked as a theatre artist, portrait painter and painter of church art. He turned to fresco painting and specialized as a flower and animal artist. He decorated numerous Viennese buildings with wall and ceiling paintings, and he also painted on silk for the salon of the Empress of Austria. From 1853 to 1859 he sent his pictures to the monthly exhibitions of the Austrian Art Association. With the opening of the Museum of Art and Industry in Vienna in 1868 he became a professor at the associated School of Applied Arts, now the University of Applied Arts, and headed its department of plant, animal and ornament art until 1892. Women were also allowed to take part in his flower painting classes. From 1881 to 1889 he was director of the facility. He was retired due to illness in 1892. He died on 1 November 1898 in Weissenbach an der Triesting. More on Friedrich Sturm

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