Hl. Magdalena

Janssens's Magdalene (Hl. Magdalena) of 1603, in the Bavarian State Painting Collections, is an early work depicting Mary Magdalene — a figure who occupied a central place in Counter-Reformation devotion precisely because she personified the possibility of radical transformation from sin to sanctity. The Magdalene as a single-figure meditation subject was perfected by Caravaggio in his Penitent Magdalene of around 1595, a work Janssens may have encountered during his Roman years. The young prostitute-turned-saint could be depicted in two modes: worldly beauty before conversion or penitent asceticism after. Janssens's early treatment likely explores the tension between these, depicting a figure whose physical beauty remains present even as penitential attributes — skull, book, tears — encode her spiritual transformation. The 1603 date places the work immediately after Janssens's return from Italy.

Oil on canvas with a single large-scale female figure in three-quarter view. The Magdalene's red dress — a conventional attribute linking her to the worldly life she has abandoned — creates a warm chromatic focus against darker background or drapery. Her hair, worn loose (either as a remnant of her worldly beauty or as a penitential sign, depending on interpretation), flows across her shoulders. A skull on the table before her and an open scripture encode the shift from world to spirit. Janssens's Italian lighting falls dramatically across her face.