Saint Catherine of Alexandria (right)
Master of the Legend of St Lucy (fl.1475-1505)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1475 - 1505
Materials
Oil on panel (oak)
Measurements
832 x 259 mm (32 3/4 x 10 1/8 in)
Order this imageCollection
Upton House, Warwickshire
NT 446759.2
Caption
This picture was probably the left wing of a triptych, or a diptych, as it is now. It is joined with a corresponding panel depicting St. John the Baptist. St. Catherine is shown standing upon the pagan tyrant, Maximian II, by whose order she was beheaded. In the background, a winding path leads across flat country to a distant gatehouse. It is possible that the Master, who frequently painted Bruges in the background of his pictures, intended to show the Ostend Gate at Bruges. The gatehouse was reconstructed in the seventeenth century, but any resemblance in the picture to its early design is only superficial. The artist’s name is taken from a painting, by the same hand, depicting the ‘Legend of St. Lucy’, dated 1480, in the church of St. Jacques, Bruges.
Summary
Oil painting on oak panel (right), Saint Catherine of Alexandria by the Master of the St Lucy Legend (fl.1475-1505). The right panel of St Catherine, wearing a crown with fleur-de-lys, a gold blue-green dress and richly embroidered crimson and gold robes lined with ermine and studded with jewels, stands upon the pagan tyrant, Maximilian II, by whose order she was beheaded; in her right hand she holds an open book from which she reads, with her left hand she supports a sword; in the background a winding path leads across flat country to a distant gatehouse. This picture is probably the right wing of a triptych, or as joined here, a diptych, of which UPT.P.158a is the corresponding panel.
Provenance
Given with Upton House to the National Trust by Walter Samuel, 2nd Viscount Bearsted (1882 – 1948) shortly before his death
Credit line
Upton House, The Bearsted Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
Master of the Legend of St Lucy (fl.1475-1505), artist
