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The relief from the centre of the St. Mary Magdalen altarpiece from Berki shows the penitent Magdalen living in seclusion at the moment when she was carried up by angels so that she might hear the song of the hosts of heaven. The composition follows a well-known example, an engraving by Master ES, though the representation of this scene was popular in German sculpture as early as the first half of the fifteenth century, as may be seen from Multscher's figure of St. Mary Magdalen (c. 1435). In the engraving by Master ES - nearer in time to the Berki relief - and in the Münnerstadt Riemenschneider altar the Magdalen appears in the nude, her body covered only by her long hair. However, the Hungarian sculptor has given the saint a splendid cloak, the nude being an unusual form of representation in that age. The Magdalen is usually shown supported by six angels; but here the sixth place is occupied by a winding stream which breaks the symmetry of the composition and enriches it with a new element.
The artist evidently found pleasure in elaborating the background scenery in every detail, as a result of which Mary Magdalen's attribute, the jar of ointment in the lower right corner, is practically lost in the composition. The carving of the whirling stream, the duck diving for food, the sedge, the stork catching a lizard on the bank, the vegetation in the foreground represented with almost botanical fidelity, the leaves of a variety of trees, and finally, surmounting the relief, the figure of a shepherd with his flock and that of a goat nibbling the foliage of a tree, all go to show that the representation of nature was of considerable importance in sacral art at the end of the fifteenth century. The castles on the rocky hills, though realistic in detail, contribute to the mainly legendary atmosphere of the scene; and a similar effect is given by the two small feather-clad angels appearing as little birds of God.
The Berki relief is an outstanding example of the art of wood-carving in Sáros County, and also bears witness to the artistic influence of Kassa. This is evident if we compare the carving on the Berki altarpiece with that of the high altar in Kassa.
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