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It is sometimes supposed that the altarpiece of the St. Mary Magdalen from Berki in Sáros Country originated in Kassa. In style the relief in the shrine is directly related to the art of Kassa. However, the paintings on both the hinged and fixed lower wings are certainly the work of a lesser master. On the reverse of the panel representing St. Ursula, there is a painting of St. Margaret in which the script-like motif formed by the linear ornamentation of the floor was once thought to form the initials of the master, but this supposition has not been proved. The Death of the Virgin is represented according to the iconography of the last prayer - a type especially popular in the last quarter of the fifteenth century.
This mode of representation which, instead of the theme of death, emphasized the fact that during the Virgin's last prayer, she gives up her soul to Christ and thus goes to heaven, furnished an apt parallel to Christ's own ascension. These two paintings flank the relief of the Magdalen's ecstasy. The Crucifixion and the representation of the ten thousand martyrs face the martyrdom of St. Ursula and the eleven thousand virgins. When the hinged altar wings were closed, the fixed wings became visible, but only their fronts were painted. In this way, even when closed, the altar retained its width. The bottom picture of the fixed wing on the left represents Mary of Egypt who, like Mary Magdalen, retired from a life of sin to practise repentance. According to the legend, she took three loaves of bread with her into the desert, which she is holding here as her attribute.
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