Item Details

A PRINTED LEAF FROM LUDOLPHUS DE SAXONIA'S "DAT BOECK VAN DEN LEVEN ONS LIEFS HEREN IESU CHRISTI," WITH A LARGE AND BEAUTIFUL WOODCUT.

(Antwerp: Henrick Eckert van Homberch, 1503). 267 x 197 mm (10 1/2 x 7 3/4"). Double column, 41 lines of text in gothic type.

The leaf expertly inlaid into a window frame and then matted. With a three-line hand-painted initial in red and WITH A LARGE (105 x 145 mm.) WOODCUT OF MARY MAGDALENE WASHING JESUS' FEET. With just a faint hint of overall browning, otherwise in fine condition.

The wonderfully detailed woodcut here illustrates the famous incident related in the Gospel of Luke. Jesus is dining in the house of a Pharisee, and we see here the table groaning with food and jugs of wine. Mary Magdalene, a woman "who had committed many sins," entered the house and began to wash Christ's feet with her tears, wiping them with her hair, and anointing them with perfume. We see her kneeling in the foreground, clutching her alabaster jar of ointment, her hair flowing to the ground. The Pharisee and his richly attired friends are discussing the event in apparent shock and disapproval. It is a marvelously energetic scene, with a serene Christ as its center. (ST6942y)