the art of observing suffering

note: i sent an empty post yesterday while trying to setup the scheduled post for today. sorry, human error, it will probably most definitely happen again.

a woman emaciated from fasting, skin stretched on the bone, teeth missing. she has nothing to cover herself but her long matted hair, like primal fur. she looks unsteady, one foot forward on the hard stone ground. but her hands, youthful, feminine, beautiful, are held high in prayer.

Mary Magdalene is doing her penance in the desert following Jesus’ Ascension. penance for what, exactly? for sins the Church invented for her.

it was claimed she had once been a prostitute (highly debatable). later, a converted disciple present at the crucifixion. she was beloved enough to be the one Christ appeared to after his resurrection. yet the story goes that she still felt called to cross the desert as a demonstrable act of penance. what is that penance for? and why did Donatello immortalize her suffering?

standing in front of Mary Magdalene in the Opera del Duomo is a surreal experience. i love Donatello as an artist: he was always willing to push the boundaries, and was never afraid to show emotions and flaws and the realities of his chosen subjects. his Maddalena is one of his most powerful works of art. made of wood, the life-sized figure shows every detail of the woman’s suffering. the only hint the artist gives us about her former life as a celebrated beauty is her hands: they’re seemingly untouched by her harsh journey through the desert, still plump and delicate in their prayer.

of course the biggest shock is to stand in front of someone who appears to be in immense pain. because Mary Magdalene, in Donatello’s rendition, seems alive in front of us. she is walking towards us. i don’t know if she’s praying or pleading, and that is what strikes me the most. her suffering is supposed to be self-inflicted, some holy experience one is embracing to attain an enlightened state. but it doesn’t feel chosen. it very much feels imposed on her by the powers-that-be. because Mary Magdalene was a prostitute, because she was beautiful, because she was beloved by Christ (when she shouldn’t have been?).