Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index


  • Record Number: 14053
  • Author(s)/Creator(s): Schmidt , Victor M.
  • Contributor(s):
  • Title: Painting and Individual Devotion in Late Medieval Italy: The Case of Saint Catherine of Alexandria because Catherine of Alexandria is ill-documented, possibly even legendary, ample room was left for invention by hagiographers; the tale of Catherine's conversion and mystical marriage to Christ is not in the earliest Latin or Greek sources; these stories are documented first in Italy, and they soon had an influence on artistic depictions of this popular saint; the same motif of mystical marriage appears in the lives of Italian women saints beginning in the fourteenth century; it is difficult to tell whether the Catherine story influenced these women or their mystical piety influenced the hagiographers who wrote about Catherine].
  • Source: Visions of Holiness: Art and Devotion in Renaissance Italy.  Edited by Andrew Ladis and Shelley E. Zuraw.  Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia, 2001.  Pages 21 - 36.
  • Description:
  • Article Type: Essay
  • Subject (See Also): Art History- Painting Catherine of Alexandria, Martyr, Saint in Art Catherine of Siena, Saint Hagiography Mystical Marriage Penitents Umiliata dei Cerchi, Penitent and Saint Women in Art
  • Award Note:
  • Geographic Area: Italy
  • Century: 14- 15
  • Primary Evidence:
  • Illustrations: Eight figures. Figure One Follower of the Saint Cecilia Master, "Altarpiece of Saint Catherine and scenes from her life" (Malibu, J. Paul Getty Museum). Figure Two Pseudo-Niccolò ("l' Illustratore"), "Scenes from the Life of Saint Catherine" (Padua, Biblioteca Capitolare, ms. A. 25, fol. 1). Figure Three Attributed to the Pseudo-Jacopino di Francesco, Wing of Diptych (Florence, Fondazione Longhi ). Figure Four Andrea de' Bartoli, "Saint Catherine Praying" (Assisi, San Francesco). Figure Five Master of the Misericordia, "Saint Catherine Praying" (New York, Robert Lehman Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art). Figure Six Spinello Aretino, "Scenes from the Life of Saint Catherine" (Antella, Oratorio di S. Caterina). Figure Seven Attributed to Bertolino de' Grossi, "Saint Catherine Praying" - Detail (Parma, Cathedral). Figure Eight Altichiero, "Saint James Appearing to King Ramiro in His Sleep" (Padua, Basilica del Santo).
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  • Conference Info: - , -
  • Year of Publication: 2001.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN/ISBN: 0915977400