Saint Catherine of Alexandria
shortly after 1342
Medium
Tempera on wood, gold ground
Dimensions
Overall 26 x 16 1/4 in. (66 x 41.3 cm); painted surface 24 1/2 x 16 1/4 in. (62.2 x 41.3 cm)
Classification
Paintings
Department
European Paintings
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Rogers Fund, 1913
Accession Number
13.212
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
Art Historical Context
Pietro Lorenzetti's *Saint Catherine of Alexandria*, shortly after 1342 captures the Sienese master's devotion to Gothic elegance in this tempera-on-wood panel its luminous gold ground. Lorenzetti, a leading figure in 14th-century Siena alongside his brother Ambrogio painted this intimate portrait (26 x 16¼ inches) likely as a devotional image for private worship. Saint Catherine, the learned Egyptian martyr famed for her intellectual debates with pagan philosophers and miraculous survival of torture on a spiked wheel, gazes serenely outward, embodying ideal Christian femininity and resilience...