FutureChurch continues to celebrate the 2020 Feast Day of Saint Mary of Magdala with a virtual art tour, featuring early and medieval art.
Dr. Christine Axen draws on her knowledge of the layers of Medieval spiritual life and symbolism to expand our understanding of the complex imagery used to depict Mary Magdalene during the Medieval period. This tour will increase our understanding of the high status Mary Magdalene attained as a patron of 14th-16th century Penitential communities. It will also open the door to questions for further exploration: What happened? Why was “Mary Magdalene Proclaimer of the Resurrection” shown only in private art? And, How did Mary Magdalene go from distinguished Medieval preacher and revered hermit to Titian’s sixteenth century (and other’s) nudes?”
Dr. Christine Axen, Ph.D. is a medievalist with a specialization in French religious history and female religiosity in the Middle Ages. She received her doctorate from Boston University, and currently teaches at Fordham University in New York. She also gives guided tours of the Met Cloisters, the medieval branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and is interested in the depiction of women in medieval art, and the messages that art conveys about social order.