Saint Catherine of Alexandria (d.307)
after Bernardino Luini (Luini, Lake Maggiore c.1480 – ? Lugano 1532)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1507 - 1532
Materials
Oil on panel
Measurements
578 x 457 mm (22 3/4 x 18 in)
Place of origin
Italy
Order this imageCollection
Stourhead, Wiltshire
NT 732122
Caption
St Catherine of Alexandria, crowned (alluding to her own royal birth), is wearing a red robe with an IHS brooch (the abbreviation of Jesus in Greek) indicating her conversion to Christianity and alluding to her mystic marriage to Christ. It could also be a reference to the then recently deceased and canonised Bernardino of Siena (1380- 1444) who was a Franciscan friar and preacher who displayed this monogram on a tablet during his sermons. The virgin saint holds the palm of her martyrdom and a book . Behind her is her attribute, part of the spiked wheel, which was her instrument of torture, although not her death, as she was finally beheaded by the pagan Emperor Maxentius around AD310 with a sword. This picture is inscribed on the back L:D:V:, in the false belief that it was by Luini’s inspirer, Leonardo da Vinci, as thought of another version in the Royal Collection.
Summary
Oil painting on panel, Saint Catherine of Alexandria, after Bernardino Luini (Luini, Lake Maggiore c. 1481 - ?Lugano 1532), early 16th century. Catherine is seen, half-length, crowned and wearing a red robe with an IHS brooch, indicating her conversion to Christianity on the front and alluding to her mystic marriage to Christ. She holds her palm of martyrdom in her right hand and a book in her left. Part of the wheel which was her instrument of torture and her attribute is seen behind her, on the right.
Provenance
Given to the National Trust along with the house, its grounds, and the rest of contents by Sir Henry Hugh Arthur Hoare, 6th Bt (1865 – 1947) in 1946.
Credit line
Stourhead, The Hoare Collection (National Trust)
Marks and inscriptions
Verso: Inscribed on the back L:D:V:, in the false belief that this was by Luini's inspirer Leonardo da Vinci, as used to be the case too with the best of the many versions of this picture, that in the Royal Collections.
Makers and roles
after Bernardino Luini (Luini, Lake Maggiore c.1480 – ? Lugano 1532), artist