Andrea Celesti
St. Mary Magdalene Washes the Feet of Jesus
Circa 1700
Chapel of St. Mary Magdalene
Collegiate Basilica of St. Florian, Austria
The action shown is narrated in Luke 7:36-48. On the right, in yellow, Simon the Pharisee grumbles to himself about Mary Magdalene's condition as a sinner while she uses her hair to wipe her tears from Jesus' feet. Beneath the feet is the alabaster jar of ointment that she will pour over them. Jesus' gesture and the flood of light from above reference the forgiveness for her sins that comes to her in this moment. (Verse 47: "Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much.")
In the lower right corner, where one would usually place a donor, a boy in contemporary garments carries in a platter of fruit. Perhaps he is a relative of Matthäus von Weissenberg, the provost of the basilica at the time.
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Photographed at the basilica by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.