This panel depicts Mary Magdalene washing Christ’s feet with her tears and drying them with her hair (Luke 7:37–8). The Magdalene’s
massive hand and extended arm may have been meant to emphasize her gesture, and hence her penitence, or they may simply be the work of
a second-rate carver. Christ stands above the Magdalene holding up a book in his covered left hand. His right hand was originally raised
in blessing. His pose echoes that seen in the Christ over the beasts panel on the opposite face of the cross. The facial features of both
figures have been hacked or worn away.
The Latin inscription surrounding the panel reads: + A[TT]V[LIT] [ALA]B[A]S (across the top); TRVM ⋅ V[NGUE]NTI ⋅ & S[T]AN[S] [R]E[TR]O
SECVS PEDES (down the right side); ⋅ EIUS LACRIMIS ⋅ COEPIT RIGARE ⋅ PEDES EIUS & CAPILLIS (down the left side) ⋅ CAPITIS SUI TERGEBAT
(across the bottom). Translation: ‘+ She took an alabaster jar of ointment, and standing behind at his feet, she began to wash his feet
with her tears and dried them with the hair of her head’.
