The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of February 18, 2025

St. Catherine of Siena and the Beggar
1460s
(Italian, c. 1403–1482)
Framed: 35.6 x 35.7 x 4.5 cm (14 x 14 1/16 x 1 3/4 in.); Unframed: 28.7 x 28.9 cm (11 5/16 x 11 3/8 in.)
Location: 117A Italian Renaissance
Did You Know?
Giovanni di Paolo painted both large altarpieces and small manuscripts.Description
Saint Catherine (1347-1380) was the daughter of a prosperous Sienese cloth dyer. At the age of six, she saw a vision of Christ and thereafter dedicated herself to chastity, penance, and good works. She became much beloved in Siena for selflessly caring for victims of the Black Death. This panel, with 1966.2, was once part of a predella (or pedestal) of a large altarpiece painted for the Hospital Church of Siena. The main scene of this altarpiece, showing the Presentation of Christ in the Temple (now preserved in Siena) was ordered by the Pork Butchers Guild (the Pizzicaiuoli) in 1447. The predella was added later when Catherine was canonized in 1461. In the first panel, she kneels before an altar and reaches up to choose from the monastic garments offered by Saints Dominic, Augustine, and Francis, all founders of religious orders. Catherine takes the habit of Saint Dominic, which she wore as the founder of the Sisters of Penance. The second panel shows, at the right, Saint Catherine giving her cloak to a beggar. The beggar was really Christ in disguise, and at the left returns the cloak to her. For this act of charity, the cloak perpetually protected its wearer from the cold.- S. Maria della Scala, Siena. JJohann Anton Ramboux, Cologne (bought in Siena, c. 1838, Cologne sale 1867).Hohenzollern family, Sigmaringen (sold 1920).Adolphe Stoclet, Brussels (1921, sold 1966).(R. Heinemann, New York, 1966).1966-The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
- Ramboux, Johann Anton. Catalog der nachgelassenen Kunst-Sammlungen des Herrn Johann Anton Ramboux Versteigerung zu Cöln am 23. Mai 1867 durch J. M. Heberle (H. Lempertz). 1867. lots 113, 115The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 59 archive.orgCleveland Museum of Art, “Golden Anniversary Acquisition,” 1966, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. archive.orgStechow, Wolfgang. "Cleveland's Golden Anniversary Acquisitions." Artnews 65, no. 5 (September 1966): 30-64. Mentioned: p. 34; Reproduced: p. 37De Fernandez-Gimenez, Elizabeth Ourusoff. "Giovanni Di Paolo: The Life of St. Catherine of Siena." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 54, no. 4 (1967). pp. 103-10 www.jstor.orgThe Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 59 archive.orgCleveland Museum of Art, Louise d' Argencourt, and Roger Diederen. Catalogue of Paintings. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1974. pp. 104-110The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 67 archive.orgChristiansen, Keith, Laurence B. Kanter, and Carl Brandon Strehlke. Painting in Renaissance Siena, 1420-1500. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1988. pp. 224-228Boskovits, Miklós, Serena Padovani, and Irene Martin. Early Italian Painting: 1290-1470. London: Published by Philip Wilson Publishers for Sotheby's Publications, 1990. pp. 104-112Freuler, Gaudenz. "Künder der wunderbaren Dinge": frühe italienische Malerei aus Sammlungen in der Schweiz und in Liechtenstein. Lugano-Castagnola: Fondazione Thyssen-Bornemisza, 1991. p. 96Krischel, Roland, Susanne Blöcker, Frank Günter Zehnder, and Hiltrud Kier. Lust und Verlust: Kolner Sammler zwischen Trikolore und Preussenadler. Koln: Wienand, 1995. p. CXII-IIIWarr, Cordelia. "Clothing, Charity, Salvatio and Visionary Experience in Fifteenth-Century Siena." Art History: Journal of the Association of Art Historians. 27:2, April 2004 Fig. 1.1, p. 188Raymond, and Josef Schwarzbauer. 33 Jahre für Christus: die Legenda Maior ; das Leben der hl. Caterina von Siena. Kleinhain: Verlag St. Josef, 2006. p. 97Genovese, Valeria E. "Postille messinesi: il golgota di Gualtieri Sicamino e il dono per Polidoro da Caravaggio." In Annali della Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa: Classe di Lettere e Filosofia. Serie 5. Pisa: Edizioni Della Normale., 2011 Pg 616, fig 25Genovese, Veleria E. "Postille Messinesi: Il Golgota di Gualtieri Sicamino e il dono per Polidoro da Caravaggio" Annali della Scuola normale superiore di Pisa, Classe di lettere e filosofia. Pisa: La Scuola, (Serie 5 2011, 3/2) p. 616Kennedy, Trinita, Donal Cooper, Holly Flora, Trinita Kennedy, Amy Neff, and Janet Robson. Sanctity Pictured: The Art of the Dominican and Franciscan Orders in Renaissance Italy. 2014. cat. no. 42b, p. 186Dwyer Modestini, Dianne, and Mario Modestini. Masterpieces: Based on a Manuscript by Mario Modestini. Fiesole (Firenze) : Cadmo, 2018. Mentioned: p. 323-324
- Sanctity Pictured: The Art of the Dominican and Franciscan Orders in Renaissance Italy. Frist Art Museum, Nashville, TN (organizer) (October 31, 2014-January 25, 2015).Lust und Verlust: Kölner Sammler zwischen Trikolore und Preussenadler (Joy and Loss: Cologne Collectors between the tricolore and the Prussian eagle). Josef Haubrich Kunsthalle (October 24, 1995-January 14, 1996).
- {{cite web|title=St. Catherine of Siena and the Beggar|url=false|author=Giovanni di Paolo|year=1460s|access-date=18 February 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1966.3