 By the medieval period , reading became synonymous with devotion , which involved withdrawal from public view . Van der Weyden 's placement of the Magdalen in an interior scene reflects the increasing literacy of domestic or <unk> in the mid @-@ 15th century . The increased production of devotional texts showed that noble women of the period routinely read texts such as a psalter or book of hours in the privacy of their homes . Whether the Magdalen herself was a reader , by the 17th century she was firmly established as such in the visual arts . Because the Magdalen was present at Christ 's death and subsequent resurrection , she was seen as the bearer of news — a witness — and hence directly associated with the text . 
