Neri di Bicci, Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints Augustine,Catherine of Alexandria, Margaret of Antioch and Francis Italian, c.1450-1460 Private Collection |
As previously noted, Saint Catherine of Alexandria was one of the most popular saints of the entire Middle Ages. She appears everywhere in Europe, from Greece to Spain, from Sicily to Sweden.1
In the first article in this series we looked at individual images of Saint Catherine. In the second article we looked at the scenes of her martyrdom, in the third at her burial by angels. But these are by no means the only images of Saint Catherine that come down to us. There are others that ensured that her image and her iconography would have been familiar to every person in Christendom.
Master of Sant'Emiliano, Madonna and Child with Saints Lucy, Catherine of Alexandria and Aemilianus of Cogolla Italian, c,1330-1340 Fabriano, Pinacoteca Civica Bruno Molajoli |
Raphael, Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints Peter, Catherine of Alexandria, Barbara (?) and Paul Known as the Colonna Altarpiece Italian, c.1504 New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art |
Many of these works feature Saint Catherine, identifiable through one or more of her attributes: crown, knife-embedded wheel, sword, book and (rarely) the tiny figure of Emperor Maximian at her feet.
Among the saints that she is most frequently seen with are:
·
Other early virgin martyr saints, such as
Margaret of Antioch (identifiable by the attribute of the dragon from whom she
escaped), Lucy (identified by her eyes or by a lamp which plays on her name),
Agnes (with her symbol of the lamb), Barbara (with her symbol of the tower in
which she was imprisoned), Agatha (with her symbols of amputated breasts), Apollonia (carrying the tongs by which all her teeth
were extracted during torture)
Taddeo Gaddi, Saint Margaret of Antioch and Saint Catherine of Alexandria Italian, 1334 Berlin, Gemäldegalerie der Staatliche Museen zu Berlin |
Saints Catherine of Alexandria and Margaret of Antioch from a Psalter French (Metz), 1370-1380 New York, Pierpont Morgan Library MS M 88. fol. 20r |
Masters of the Gold Scrolls, Saints Catherine of Alexandria and Margaret of Antioch from a Book of Hours Flemish (Bruges), c.1420-1440 The Hague, Koninklijk Bibliotheek MS KB 133 D 14, fol. 13v |
Giovanni Battista Cima da Conegliano, Saints Lucy, Mary Magdalene and Catherine of Alexandrian Italian, c.1490 Berlin, Gemäldegalerie der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin |
Saints Catherine of Alexandria and Barbara of Nicomedia from a Prayer Book Flemish (Malines), c.1500-1510 The Hague, Koninklijk Bibliothek MS KB 71 G 53, fol. 95r |
Attributed to Antonio Palma, Madonna and Child with the Child Saint John the Baptist, Saint Agnes and Saint Catherine of Alexandria Italian, 16th Century Paris, Musée du Louvre |
- Male saints such as John the Baptist (with his staff, hair shirt and lamb), John the Evangelist (identified by a book and/or the cup of poisoned wine from which a dragon emerges), Peter (with the keys to the kingdom of Heaven), Paul (with a sword), Augustine (with bishop’s robes and book), Francis (with Stigmata), Anthony of Padua (with a cross or book)
Ivory plaque, Madonna and Child with Saints John the Baptist and Catherine of Alexandria French, c.1400 Paris, Musée du Louvre |
Giovanni dal Ponte, Madonna and Child with Saints John the Baptist and Catherine of Alexandria Italian, c. 1430 Hartford, CT, Wadsworth Atheneum |
Gentile da Fabriano, Madonna and Child with Saints Nicholas of Bari and Catherine of Alexandria with a Donor Italian, 1395-1400 Berlin. Gemäldegalerie der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin |
Neri di Bicci. Saints Catherine of Alexandria, Anthony of Padua and John the Evangelist Italian, c.1465 Avignon, Musée du petit Palais |
Sebastiano del Piombo. Holy Family with Saints Catherine of Alexandria, Sebastian and Donor
Italialn, 1507-1508
Paris, Musée du Louvre |
Giulio Campi, Madonna and Chile with Saints Catherine of Alexandria and Francis of Assisi with a Donor
Italian, 1530
Milan, Pinacoteca di Brera
|
Federico Zuccaro, Assumption of the Blessed Virgin with Saints John the Baptist and Catherine of Alexandria
Italian, 1565-1566
Cortona, Museo Diocesano
|
Annibale Carracci, Apparition of Madonna and Child to Saints Luke and Catherine of Alexandria
Italian, c.1590
Paris, Musée du Louvre
|
Pieter Candid (Pieter de Witte), Madonna and Child with Saints John the Bapstist, Francis of Assisi and Catherine of Alexandria
Flemish, c.1600
Paris, Musée du Louvre
|
Pietro da Cortona, Madonna and Child with Saints John the Baptist, Felix of Cantalice, Andrew and Catherine of Alexandria
Italian, 1629-1630
Milan, Pinacoteca di Brera
|
- Other saints, such as Mary Magdalene (identified by the pot of oil or spices which she brought to the tomb of Jesus)
- Angelic saints, such as Michael (with sword or spear overcoming the devil). See also the painting by Giovanni Piemontese above.
Anonymous Dutch Miniaturist, Saints Catherine and Michael from Leven van S. Katharina Dutch (s-Hertogenbosch), 1480-1500 Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France MS Neerlandais 129, fol. 1 |
- Sometimes, especially in works made after 1500, Catherine is shown as the only saint in familiar conversation with the Madonna and Child or with the Holy Family
Titian, Holy Family with St. Catherine of Alexandria, The Madonna with the Rabbit Italian, 1520-1530 Paris, Musée du Louvre |
Lorenzo Lotto, Holy Family with St. Catherine of Alexandria Italian, 1533 Bergamo, Accademia Carrara |
Simon Vouet, Madonna and Child with Saints Elizabeth, Baby John the Baptist and Catherine of Alexandria French, 1624-1626 Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado |
Anthony van Dyck, Madonna and Child with St.Catherine of Alexandria Flemish, c. 1630 New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art |
· And sometimes she appears in a group, even a crowd, of saints.
Fra Angelico, Coronation of Virgin Italian, c.1430-1432 Paris, Musée du Louvre Saint Catherine can be seen prominently at the right side of the painting, holding her wheel. |
Anonymous All Saints from a Book of Hours French (Paris), c.1490-1500 The Hague, Koninklijk Bibliotheek MS KB 76 F 14, fol. 112v |
The sacra conversazione had its greatest popularity between the fifteenth and early seventeenth centuries. After that period, paintings that combined several saints in one image took on different compositional forms, some of which can be seen below.
Jean Bellegambe, Polyptych of Anchin Flemish, c 1510 Douai, Musée de la Chartreuse Catherine is prominent on the left wing, again holding her wheel. |
One of the most interesting, as well as the most recent inclusion of Saint Catherine in a group of saints, occurs in the iconography that grew up around Joan of Arc in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This was the period during which Joan’s cause for sainthood was being pressed, eventually resulting in her canonization in 1920.
Jules Bastien-Lepage, Joan of Arc French, 1879 New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art |
Rene Marie Castaing, Design for Joan of Arc Window French, 1900-1925 Pau, Musée des Beaux-Arts |
Gaston Bussiere, Joan of Arc, the Predestined French, 1909 Macon, Musée des Ursulines |
Joan attributed her inspiration to lead the armies of France against the English occupation to the apparition of three saints to her. The saints were Michael, Margaret of Antioch and Catherine of Alexandria. So, in a sense, the images of these apparitions, done in the decades around 1900, are artistic imaginings of what a sacra conversazione might look like, since it is a conversation between three who are already saints with one who would become a saint through her own sacrifice. And they are also images that remind us that we can be like Joan, contemplating those who are what we aspire to become.
For more about Saint Catherine of Alexandria see:
© M. Duffy, 2016
______________________________________________
1.
Saint Catherine of Alexandria, An Introduction
at http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2016/11/saint-catherine-of-alexandria.html
2.
A short definition of the term can be found on
the website of the National Gallery in London at https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/glossary/sacra-conversazione
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