Description
Saint Catherine of Alexandria in a landscape.
Tempera (or oil?) on pine panel, threaded.
The painting is part of the gilt wood frame with detached columns.
The label on the back indicates a German school, but it is probably a Spanish school of the late 15th century.
Virgin and martyr, died in 310(?), she refuses to marry the Emperor Maximian himself (whose representation can be seen in the lower left), because of her mystical marriage with the Christ.
Furious, he condemned Catherine to death on a spiked breaking wheel.
This one miraculously breaks. She dies decapitated.
She is the patron saint of young girls, clergymen, and cartwrights.
Attributes: wheel, crown, sword.
Spain, end of the 15th century.