The Penitent Magdalene,

ca. 1660–65

With its emphasis on repentance and piety, the subject of Mary Magdalene—one of Christ’s most ardent followers—appealed to both Protestants and Catholics in the Dutch Republic. The grotto setting here refers to Mary’s self-isolation in the wilderness, the extinguished candle to the transience of life, and the new leaves growing from the gnarled tree to her redemption through prayer and penitence. While the painting’s primary message was to warn against earthly pleasures, exhorting the viewer to live a virtuous life, Mary’s exposed breast, alluding to the traditional understanding of the Magdalene as a woman with a sinful past, would have appealed to the voyeuristic instinct of some seventeenth-century Dutch viewers. Dou painted at a small scale using a highly refined, time-consuming technique that invites close looking and contemplation.