Moving with the Magdalen: late medieval art and devotion in the Alps

Uittreksel

Moving with the Magdalen is a turning point for the study of Mary Magdalen in late medieval society. It brings together a corpus of late medieval wall paintings and altarpieces that speak to devotional life in Alpine parishes grounding our attention in the rural rather than the urban. The Alps may seem remote but Mary Magdalen was rock steady for residents and travellers alike who traversed its valleys and passes. This book reveals what made the saint so popular in the mountains and how the artworks were interconnected, whilst assessing the quality of their relationship to the cult's origins in the West, especially her tomb and grotto in Provence. The seven chapters explore the role art played in localizing the saint without any sacrifice of her universal appeal. To this end it argues for decentralization - each rural site is singular in its meaning yet is part of a larger network. Mary Magdalen moves into the mountains and is given new meaning. In doing so, the Alps are repositioned as both bridge and creative ground for the cult of this powerful saint, as a site of transformation on the late medieval map of devotion.