The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of April 18, 2024
Miniature from a Compendium of Saints' Lives: Saint Catherine of Alexandria Disputing with the Fifty Philosophers
c. 1200–1210
Overall: 16 x 10.5 cm (6 5/16 x 4 1/8 in.)
Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 1997.12
Location: not on view
Description
This miniature depicts an incident in the life of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, one of the early martyrs of the Christian Church, who was renowned for her learning. In AD 305, the Roman emperor Maxentius (the crowned figure seated at the left) attempted to compel Catherine (seated at the right) to renounce her faith by forcing her to engage in a disputation or debate with the fifty pagan philosophers of Alexandria (signified by their pointed hats). The clever Catherine, however, succeeded in converting the philosophers to Christianity. In a rage, Maxentius ordered her execution. This miniature probably came from a manuscript of saints' lives or possibly a martyrology. The subject of this miniature would have appealed in the scholastic climate of northeastern France. Its dating and place of origin are supported by its strong stylistic relationship to the famous Ingeborg Psalter of about 1200, now in the Musée Condé in Chantilly.- Cleveland Museum of Art, “Major Neoclassical Marble, Rare Korean Sculpture, Other Recent CMA Acquisitions Now on View,” April 16, 1997, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. archive.orgFliegel, Stephen N., "Between Romanesque and Gothic", Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 37 no. 07, September 1997 Mentioned & reproduced: p. 8-9 archive.org
- Devotion and Leaning in the Middle Ages- (Manuscript Rotation) - Gallery 115. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer).
- {{cite web|title=Miniature from a Compendium of Saints' Lives: Saint Catherine of Alexandria Disputing with the Fifty Philosophers|url=false|author=|year=c. 1200–1210|access-date=18 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1997.12