Painting: The Penitent Mary Magdalene by Francesco Hayez (1791-1882), Italian painter and leading artist of Romanticism in mid-19th-century Milan, renowned for his grand historical paintings, political allegories and exceptionally fine portraits. Details: Year - 1825; Technique - oil on canvas; Dimensions - 118 x 150 cm (46.46 x 59.06 in); Current location - Civica Galleria d'Arte Moderna; Source - The Yorck Project: 10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei.
A few modern writers have claimed that Mary Magdalene was married Jesus, quoting Gnostic writings to support their arguments. Extra-biblical sources like the apocryphal Gospel of Philip depict Mary Magdalene as being closer to Jesus than any other disciples.
Mary Magdalene is mentioned as one of the three Mary’s ‘who always walked with the Lord’ and as his companion (Philip 59.6-11). Gospel of Philip also says that the Lord loved her more than all other disciples, and used to kiss her often (63.34-36). But Kripal writes ‘the historical sources are simply too contradictory and simultaneously too silent’ to make absolute declarations regarding Jesus' sexuality. On the other hand, the historian John Dickson argues that it was a common custom ‘in early Christianity to kiss a fellow believer by way of greeting, and as such kissing would have no romantic connotations’.
The theory that Mary Magdalene was the wife of Jesus Christ was propagated by books such as The Jesus Scroll (1972), Holy Blood, Holy Grail (1982), The Gospel According to Jesus Christ (1991), The Woman with the Alabaster Jar (1993), Bloodline of the Holy Grail: The Hidden Lineage of Jesus Revealed (1996), The Da Vinci Code (2003), and Jesus the Man (2006).
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