Page 144 - Nada temas, dice ella

Pedro de Mena
La Magdalena penitente, 1664
La escultura que Pedro de Mena (1628­1688) realiza para la Casa Profesa de los Jesuitas de Ma­ drid representa a la Magdalena en su condición de penitente, co­ dificando el diálogo místico y el éxtasis, tan afines a la iconogra­ fía teresiana, en los gestos de sus manos: la que sostiene la cruz y la que se lleva sintomáticamente al pecho. El Cristo crucificado que contempla es tan real que la libera del esfuerzo espiritual de quien no discierne de sus pro­ pias ilusiones, y proyecta en ella un sentimiento de amor dolo­ roso en cuanto que verdadero e imposible, tal y como recrea este soneto popular atribuido por algunos a Santa Teresa: «Tú me mueves, señor; muéveme el verte clavado en una cruz y escarneci­ do; muéveme ver tu cuerpo tan herido; muévenme tus afrentas
y tu muerte. No me tienes que dar porque te quiera, pues aunque cuanto espero no esperara, lo mismo que te quiero te quisiera».
Los místicos son el objeto predilecto de Pedro de Mena. En ellos la vida deja paso a la muerte como suprema aspira­ ción humana, y el mundo corpo­ ral, tan terrenal en esta obra, se reviste de connotaciones peca­ minosas. Así, incluso despojada de sus atributos, la Magdalena destila erotismo, especialmente en el tratamiento de sus cabellos y sus brazos desnudos.
Con la economía de lenguaje que le caracteriza, el artista re­ nuncia a lo anecdótico y emplea solamente lo indispensable, dando lugar a una escultura casi cubista en la rígida estera que viste la Magdalena, cuyo entrete­ jido, escrupulosamente tallado,
podría interpretarse como un síntoma de falta de recursos si no funcionara como el artificio con el que consigue realzar la ex­ presión del rostro, cumbre de la plástica hispana. La habilidad de Mena para transformar la ma­ teria en una forma con aspecto vivo es una de las cualidades más alabadas de este escultor, que manifestó una devoción exaltada y poco corriente incluso en aque­ llos tiempos de la España del siglo xvii, en los que la religión impregnaba todos los ámbitos de la vida cotidiana.
The sculpture that Pedro de Mena (1628 – 1688) made for the Jesuit House in Madrid depicts Mary Magdalene as a penitent, encoding the mystical dialogue and ecstasy that were common to Teresian iconography in the gestures of her hands: the one that holds the cross and the one she symptomatically places on her breast. The crucified Christ she contemplates is so real that it liberates her from the spiritual sacrifice of one who doesn’t distinguish it from her own illu- sions and projects her love, dole- ful insofar as it is true and yet impossible, as recreated in this popular sonnet that has been at- tributed to Saint Teresa of Avila: ‘You move me, Lord, it moves me to see you nailed to a cross and derided / It moves me to see your body so wounded / Your insults and your death move me. / Your love moves me in such a way that even if there were no heaven,
I would love you / And even if there were no hell, I would fear you. / You do not have to give to me so that I love you / Because even what I hope for I wouldn’t hope / Just as I do love you,
I would love you.’*
Mystics are Pedro de Mena’s favourite motif, for they show how life gives way to death as the supreme human aspiration, and the corporeal world, so earthly in this work, is marked by sinful connotations. Thus, even when she is divested of her attributes, Mary Magdalene reveals eroticism, particularly in the treatment of her hair and bare arms.
With his usual economy of language, the artist rejects anecdote and uses only what he considers indispensable. The result is that the rigid fabric
of the clothes worn by Mary Magdalene form an almost Cubist sculpture, and its scru- pulously carved braids could
be interpreted as a symptom
of the lack of resources if they were not an artifice to enhance the facial expression, one of
the peaks of Spanish sculpture. Mena’s skill in transforming matter into lifelike form is one of his most praised qualities. The sculptor’s impassioned de- votion was not widespread even in seventeenth-century Spain,
a time when religion pervaded all the spheres of daily life.
cg
* Carlos Miguel Buela, Cathechism for Youth, Section Two, ‘The Ten Com- mandments,’ chapter 1, ‘You Shall Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength,’ 3, ‘Ways to Love God,’ IVE Press, New York, 2008, pp. 229-230.
La Magdalena penitente, 1664 Madera policromada y cristal 165 x 52 x 61 cm
Penitent Mary Magdalene, 1664 Polychrome wood and glass 165 x 52 x 61 cm
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