Saint Catherine
Date: about 1500-1525
Dimensions:
H: 34 3/4 in. (88.3 cm)
Base: W 12 1/4 × Diam. about 8 in. (31.1 × 20.3 cm)
Medium: Limestone
Place of Origin: Probably Belgium, Southern Netherlands
Classification: Sculpture
Credit Line: Gift of Mrs. C. Lockhart McKelvy
Object number: 1947.17
Label Text:As recounted in Jacobus de Voragine’s Golden Legend, a widely popular book of saints’ lives from about 1275, Saint Catherine of Alexandria, who was of royal origin, converted to Christianity around the year 300. For refusing the advances of Roman Emperor Maxentius and chastising him for persecuting Christians, she was sentenced to death by spiked wheels (this scene is portrayed on the Retable of Saint Andrew in this gallery). However, divine intervention resulted in the wheels’ destruction. Catherine was subsequently decapitated.
One of the most popular Christian saints during the late Middle Ages in Europe, Saint Catherine is depicted with the symbolic attributes of her martyrdom, the wheel and sword. She looms above the diminutive figure of Maxentius at her feet, over whom she triumphed in her faith. The artist presents Catherine not as a 4th-century Egyptian woman, but as an aristocratic lady from the turn of the 16th century, when the statue was carved.
One of the most popular Christian saints during the late Middle Ages in Europe, Saint Catherine is depicted with the symbolic attributes of her martyrdom, the wheel and sword. She looms above the diminutive figure of Maxentius at her feet, over whom she triumphed in her faith. The artist presents Catherine not as a 4th-century Egyptian woman, but as an aristocratic lady from the turn of the 16th century, when the statue was carved.
On view
In Collection(s)