 Van der Weyden 's depiction of the Magdalen is based on Mary of Bethany , identified by the time of Pope Gregory I as the repentant prostitute of Luke 7 : 36 – 50 . She then became associated with weeping and reading : Christ 's mercy causes the eyes of the sinner to be <unk> or tearful . Early Renaissance artists often conveyed this idea by portraying contemplative eyes , associating tears with words , and in turn weeping with reading . Examples can be seen in 16th @-@ century works by <unk> and <unk> which show the Magdalen reading , often with her eyes averted towards her book ( and presumably away from a male gaze ) , or looking up to the heavens or , sometimes , glancing <unk> towards the viewer . Writing in " The Crying Face " , <unk> <unk> explains that in van der Weyden 's time the gesture of <unk> or concealing the eyes became a " pictorial formula for crying " . 
