Ambrosius Benson, Saint Mary Magdalene

Pictured: PLATE III. St. Mary Magdalen. BY AMBROSIUS BENSON. - No work could be more typical of, and instantly recognizable as, an authentic work by Ambrosius Benson than the present enchanting example: though it is always interesting to know, that the ascription to him has the authoritative support of Dr. Max J. Friedlander, who also singles out the good condition of the picture for acknowledgment. It will be recalled, that Ambrosius Benson, like his contemporary and fellow-townsman Adrian Isenbrandt, has only comparatively recently emerged as a tangible and definitely nameable artistic personality, completing our notion of the Bruges school of the first half of the sixteenth century. The period covered by his activity at Bruges extends from 1519 to 1550; but as Dr. Winkler has pointed out, he probably received his first training as an artist in Italy, a certain affinity to Bartolomeo Veneto being a notable feature of his work-there is, indeed not a little to remind one of the Lombardo-Venetian master's female half-lengths in the present example, where the lovely definition and crispness of detail in certain passages in no way interferes with the effectiveness of the massing and silhouetting of the main units of the design. North and South are really most happily met and blended in this singularly engaging work.

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