Artwork Page for Portrait of a Woman as Saint Catherine

Details / Information for Portrait of a Woman as Saint Catherine

Portrait of a Woman as Saint Catherine

c. 1560

Pier Francesco Foschi

(Italian, 1502–1567)
Culture
Italy, 16th century
Medium
oil on wood
Measurements
Framed: 116 x 93 x 11 cm (45 11/16 x 36 5/8 x 4 5/16 in.); Unframed: 95 x 71.3 cm (37 3/8 x 28 1/16 in.)
Credit Line
Holden Collection 1916.825
Public Domain
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Location
118 Italian Renaissance
Print
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Did You Know?

The spiked wheel identifies this woman as the Christian martyr Saint Catherine.

Description

Saint Catherine of Alexandria, a Christian, was martyred for refusing to make sacrifices to idols as decreed by the pagan Roman emperor Maxentius. While Maxentius first attempted to slay Catherine with spiked wheels, the machine broke when she prayed for salvation, and the emperor subsequently beheaded her. Catherine is identified in portraits through objects related to her martyrdom, such as a broken wheel, or a palm branch symbolizing the victory of the eternal spirit over mortal flesh. In sixteenth-century Florence, patrician women were often portrayed as such exemplary figures, indicating the virtues of the sitter.
Oil portrait from the waist up of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, a woman with light skin tone seated facing our left but turning to look out at us with brown eyes and small lips. She wears a pink, long-sleeved dress and grasps a spiked wooden wheel on her lap. A green, feather-like palm branch leans from the crook of her right arm. A silvery veil covers her brown hair, cascading down her back.

Portrait of a Woman as Saint Catherine

c. 1560

Pier Francesco Foschi

(Italian, 1502–1567)
Italy, 16th century

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