Saint Catherine of Alexandria

Author: Unknown

Date: ca 1540 – 1550

Material: Oil on chestnut

Dimensions (cm): H 110 x W 42,5

Provenance: Guimarães, Capela de Santa Luzia

Inventory No.: MAS P 43

Painting attributed to a Guimarães workshop, depicting Saint Catherine of Alexandria, with the symbols related to her story and to her martyrdom: the crown, alluding to her condition of princess; the wheel, where she was martyred; the sword, with which she was beheaded; and a book, symbol of her wisdom.

According to Dalila Rodrigues, this painting and another one depicting Saint Apollonia (MAS P 45) were part of the same Renaissance altarpiece, as the repetition of the figurative model, where the backgrounds seem to set an almost contiguous visual space, seems to evidence. According to this scholar, the two paintings are works by the same painter. Given the several affinities concerning the forms and the style of pictorial execution that were adopted, she also holds there’s a common authorship for these two paintings and for the painting of the Pentecost (MAS PD 2), also displayed in this museum.