Saint Catherine of Alexandria, Part IV -- In the Sacra Conversazione

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

Among these other modes was the sacra conversazione.2  This is an Italian phrase whose words mean sacred or holy conversation.  This is usually a group of saints depicted together, sometimes grouped around another saint, or more often, around the Madonna and Child.  The constituents of the group were usually chosen because there was some connection between those saints and the location in which the work of art would be placed, a parish or monastic church for instance.

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

Niccolo di Tommaso. Madonna and Child with Four Angels and Saints
Italian, c. 1350
Avignon, Musée du Petit Palais
Among the saints in the panel at the right Catherine stands in the first row and Agnes stands behind her.

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

Master de Lucon and collaborators, Allegory of Chastity
(The Virgin Mary with Saints John the Evangelist and Catherine of Alexandria)
from Livre de bonnes meurs by Jacques Legrand
French (Paris), 1410
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Francais 1023, fol. 23v

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)

Giovanni Piemontese, Madonna and Child with Saint Anne, with Saints Michael, Catherine of Alexandria, Mary Magdalene and Francis of Assisi

Italian, 1471

Berlin, Gemäldegalerie der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin

Sandro Botticelli, the Sant'Ambrogio Altarpiece (Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints Mary Magdalene, John the Baptist, Anthony of Padua and Catherine of Alexandria)
Italian, c.1470
Florence, Galleria degli' Uffizi

• 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, Group of  Female Virgin Martyrs
from a Book of Hours
French (Angers or Tours), c.1460
New York, Pierpont Morgan Library
MS M 199, fol. 294v
The front row includes Saints Barbara of Nicomedia, Apollonia of Alexandria, Catherine of Alexandria

Master of the Marienleben, Madonna and Child in a Rose Garden with Saints Catherine, Barbara and
Mary Magdalene with Donor Family
German, 1460-1470
Berlin, Gemäldegalerie der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin

Jacques de Besancon, Trinity with All Saints
from Legenda aurea by Jacobus de Voragine
French (Paris). c.1480-1490
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Francais 245, fol. 156
Catherine is again in the front row, wearing a regal dress edged in ermine and a red cloak, 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

Gerard David. Madonna and Child with Female Saints
Flemish, 1509
Rouen, Musée des Beaux-Arts

Scholars have identified the saints as:  Catherine of Alexandria, Dorothy, Agnes, Fausta, Apollonia, Godelieve de Ghistelles, Cecilia, Barbara, and Lucy.  Catherine appears at the left, identifiable by her crown, her book and her royal attire of an ermine trimmed dress and cloak.

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.

Francesco Cozza, Holy Trinity Adored by Saints
Italian, c.1670-1680
Berlin, Gemäldegalerie der Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

The saints are Ursula, Catherine of Alexandria, Agatha and Barbara.  Catherine's broken wheel is at her feet.

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:

1.          Part I -- Saint Catherine of Alexandria, An Introduction

2.       Part II --  Saint Catherine of Alexandria, Martyr

3.      Part III -- Saint Catherine of Alexandria, Buried by Angels, Reburied by Monks

© M. Duffy, 2016
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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