Researchers claim to have come across a figure of great importance in Michelangelo’s nearly 500-year-old painting,The Last Judgment.
Located on an entire altar wall in theSistine Chapelin Vatican City, the artistic masterpiece took over four years to complete and depicts the second coming ofJesus Christ, containing around 300 individuals either ascending to heaven or descending to hell on the day of their “last judgment.”
HighlightsMary Magdalene was allegedly found in The Last Judgment, hidden in plain sight for almost 500 years.Art restorer Penco asserts Michelangelo couldn’t have overlooked Mary Magdalene’s importance.Experts back Penco’s claim, highlighting the potential theological symbolism.
Experts have now pointed out that Christ’s disciple, Mary Magdalene, is included in the painting as well — but that she’d been “hiding in plain sight” all along.
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Mary Magdalene, a disciple of Christ, seems to have been “hiding in plain sight” in the Sistine Chapel for almost 500 years
Image credits:Snowdog / Wikipedia
Italian art restorer Sara Penco knew how much knowledge Renaissance painterMichelangelohad under his belt and didn’t think he’d leave such a vital figure out of a pivotal scene, according to theNew York Post.
“Michelangelo was an expert painter, he was very cultured, he was someone who knew the dynamics of the church very well, he knew the gospels and he could not have forgotten her,” Penco claimed.
And perhaps she was right.
“I am firmly convinced that this is Mary Magdalene,” Penso stated, who is about to publish the Biblical painting in her bookMary Magdalene in Michelangelo’s Judgmentthis week.
Between 1508 and 1512, Michelangelo painted the Sistine chapel’s ceiling, a project that changed the course of Western art and is regarded as one of the major artistic accomplishments of human civilization
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With Jesus supposedly having loved Mary Magdalene more than his other disciples, as depicted in othergnostic gospels, Penco was able to spot her with the “intimate” placing of her figure, seen kissing the cross.
“The cross-bearer is looking in the direction of Mary Magdalene, it is as if he is estranged from the composition looking towards the woman peacefully holding the wood and the cross,” she said.
Penco’s conclusion has some merit, according to other experts
Image credits:scripta maneant
In the forward of Penco’s upcoming book, she wrote, “Iconography and theology are linked in Penco’s reasoning to form a vision: the woman kissing the cross has an important role, even if she appears hidden on the edges of the image.”
If these verdicts are true, Penco may have finally solved a mystery that’s eluded researchers for centuries.
New research also allegedly suggests that an additional Easter egg is hidden in the master painting, depicting a woman battlingbreast cancer.
Mary Magdalene was an important part of Biblical history
Magdalene was known as one of Christ’s disciples, accompanying him in Galilee.
According toBritannica, all four canonical Gospels attested that she was present for both his crucifixion and resurrection.
She went with two other women on Easter morning to anoint his corpse but ran to the disciples once she found his tomb to be empty.
Jesus then appeared to her and instructed her to tell the Apostles that he was ascending to God, as stated in the outlet.
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