The Dead Christ Mourned by Saint Mary Magdalen (recto); The Holy Family with an Attendant (verso) 1778 - 1787

Giuseppe Cades created this pen and brown ink drawing, titled "The Dead Christ Mourned by Saint Mary Magdalen," sometime in the late 18th century in Italy. Cades, working during the height of the Enlightenment, infuses this traditional religious scene with a palpable sense of emotional intimacy. Consider the positioning of Mary Magdalen. Instead of the typical weeping woman at Christ's feet, Cades places her in a posture of active mourning, her hands clasped in prayer, her body leaning over Christ. It invites a different reading, one of intense personal grief and devotion. What does it mean to have a female figure so intimately connected to the divine, experiencing and expressing such raw emotion? Cades develops an alternative narrative to the stoic, distant Christ. By focusing on the emotional exchange between these figures, Cades asks us to contemplate the human dimensions of faith, challenging traditional representations.