Song of the Magdalene: Mary Magdalene and Sarah

Mary Magdalene and Sarah

11” x 14”, Oil on canvas board, 2005

Mary Magdalene and Sarah is the first painting in the series Song of the Magdalene. It comes out of reading the book The Woman With the Alabaster Jar. Author Margaret Starbird explores different theories about the biblical Mary Magdalene, among them that Mary Magdalene could have had a daughter by Jesus Christ called Sarah, whom gypsies today adore each year as Saint Sarah the Egyptian in the french town of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer.

Since my previous paintings were about mothers and babies, this Mary Magdalene is a sort of transition into the newer series of Mary Magdalenes. It also helped me establish the color palette that would evolve into the more intense reds and yellows of the paintings that were to follow.

In this painting I seek to portray the sacredness of a moment shared by a mother and her baby, a moment which enlightens them both and lets their souls continue to be one in timeless eternity.

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