The Temptation of the Magdalene

Jacob Jordaens · c. 1616

Medium

Oil on panel

Original size

126.2 × 96.8 cm (49 11/16 × 38 1/4 in.); Framed: 155.6 × 130.2 × 12.7 cm (61 1/4 × 51 1/4 × 5 in.)

Currently held

Art Institute of Chicago

Movement

Mannerism

Painted when Jacob Jordaens was still in his early twenties, *The Temptation of the Magdalene* announces a talent of unusual force — vivid, sensuous, and theatrically lit in a way that immediately commands attention. Jordaens was a native of Antwerp and worked in close proximity to Rubens, absorbing the elder master's gift for warm flesh tones, dynamic composition, and the kind of moral drama that keeps a viewer rooted to the spot. Where Rubens could feel aristocratic, Jordaens tends toward the earthy and immediate — his figures are tangible, weighted, and alive with tension. In this panel he channels the Flemish tradition of pairing spiritual struggle with bodily presence, giving the Magdalene's conflict a psychological rawness that purely devotional imagery rarely achieves. Notably, Jordaens later converted to Calvinism yet continued throughout his life to accept commissions for Catholic religious subjects — a pragmatic contradiction that underscores how deeply the Counter-Reformation visual tradition had shaped his artistic instincts regardless of his personal faith. Our hand-painted oil reproduction is executed by skilled studio artists working directly from high-resolution reference of the original, matching Jordaens' layered glazes, his characteristic warm underlighting, and the tonal depth that photography alone can never fully convey.