About this print

Mary Magdalene Kintsugi

A grieving woman kneels where the stone was rolled away, and the cracks in her mantle are traced in gold.

What is painted

Mary Magdalene kneels on the limestone steps of a garden tomb, both hands pressed to her heart, her face turned up toward a low morning sun. Her ivory veil and mantle fall in heavy folds, and thin lines of gold wander across the cloth like seams. To the right, the round stone has been rolled clear of the doorway, and inside the dark chamber the linen grave clothes lie folded and empty.

White lilies grow between the rocks, olive branches spill over the tomb, and on the left a city with tall cypresses catches the first light. The whole canvas is filled edge to edge in warm impressionist brushwork, in an oil painting style. There is no text on the image.

Kintsugi and the morning of the resurrection

Kintsugi is a Japanese art of repairing broken ceramics with lacquer dusted with gold. Instead of hiding the fracture, the mender makes it shine, so the bowl becomes more precious for having been broken. Here the idea is only borrowed as an image: the gold lines on the mantle suggest a life that was broken and then made whole.

The Gospel of John tells how Mary came to the sepulchre while it was still dark and found the stone taken away (John 20:1). She stayed outside weeping after the disciples left. When Jesus spoke her name, she knew him and answered, “Rabboni.” He sent her to the disciples, and she told them she had seen the Lord (John 20:11-18). Luke 8:2 also remembers her as the woman from whom seven devils had gone out, a person healed long before that Easter morning.

Where it belongs, and who it is for

The piece speaks to anyone carrying grief or recovering from a hard season: a friend after a loss, a woman marking sobriety or healing, a sister in Christ who knows what it is to be restored. It sits well in a bedroom, a counseling office, a prayer corner or above a reading chair, and it makes a meaningful Easter or Mother's Day present.

Each print is a giclée on thick archival matte paper, made on demand in the United States, with free delivery anywhere in the US. It ships without a frame. Sizes run from 5x7 up to 24x36 inches, plus metric and A sizes, and a digital download is also offered.

Hang it in soft daylight to bring out the gold seams, or pair it with an empty tomb or lily print for an Easter wall that stays up all year.