The Story
The Temptation of Saint Mary Magdalen by Johann Liss. Purchase, Walter and Leonore Annenberg Acquisitions Endowment Fund; Gifts of Irma N. Straus and Lionel F. Straus Jr., in memory of his parents, and Bequests of Milena Jurzykowski and Theodore M. Davis, by exchange; Gwynne Andrews and Victor Wilbour Memorial Funds; Charles and Jessie Price Gift, and funds from various donors, 2020
Created in 1631 during the Baroque period, this work belongs firmly within the religion & mythology tradition. Johann Liss worked at a moment when the rivalry between Catholic Baroque drama and Protestant restraint reshaped what a painting could mean. Every gesture, fabric, and gleam of light was decoded by contemporary viewers like a private language.
Executed in Oil on canvas, measuring 38 7/8 × 49 1/2 in. (98.8 × 125.8 cm), the surface rewards close looking. Johann Liss builds the composition through layered glazes and a tightly controlled palette, letting cool shadows recede so that the warm, lit passages step forward. The brushwork shifts from the precise to the almost dissolved — a hallmark of mature Baroque practice.
“A silence so complete it becomes its own witness.”
