Saint Catherine of Alexandria (Raphael)

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Saint Catherine of Alexandria
Raffael 020.jpg
Artist Raphael
Year c. 1507
Type oil on wood
Dimensions 72.2 cm × 55.7 cm (28.4 in × 21.9 in)
Location National Gallery, London

Saint Catherine of Alexandria is a painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Raphael. In the painting, Catherine of Alexandria is looking upward in ecstasy and leaning on a wheel - an allusion to the breaking wheel (or Catherine wheel) of her martyrdom.[1]

It was painted c. 1507, towards the end of Raphael's sojourn in Florence and shows the young artist in a transitional phase. The depiction of religious passion in the painting is still reminiscent of Pietro Perugino. But the graceful contrapposto of Catherine's pose is typical of the influence of Leonardo da Vinci on Raphael, and is believed to be an echo of Leonardo's lost painting Leda and the Swan.

This picture was partially used on the cover of The Smashing Pumpkins album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.

References

  1. Capgrave, John, and Karen A. Winstead. 2011. The life of Saint Katherine of Alexandria. Notre Dame, Ind: University of Notre Dame Press.

See also


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