LVR-LandesMuseum Bonn has acquired Julius Benno Hübner’s Mary Magdalene

December 3, 2024

We are pleased to announce that the LVR-LandesMuseum Bonn has acquired Julius Benno Hübner’s Mary Magdalene painted in 1860.  We exhibited this painting at TEFAF Maastricht in March 2024, where it was featured as part of our stand devoted to the Nazarenes and other early nineteenth century German paintings. 

 

Throughout history, painters have tried their hand at portraits of the Bible’s most notorious sinner, Mary Magdalene; but few have created such an intense depiction of internal feeling, of grief at once spiritual and universal.  Among Hübner’s depictions of strong women, his Mary Magdalene stands out.  She is unusually sensual for a Nazarene, her long reddish hair, which flows in thick locks freely over her bare shoulders is worthy of a Pre-Raphaelite.  Quintessentially Nazarene, however is her composure.   

 

Julius Benno Hübner

(German, 1806-1882) 
MARY MAGDALENE

signed Julius Hübner and dated 1860 (upper right)

oil on canvas

26 3/4 by 23 5/8 in. (68 cm by 60 cm.)