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Catherine of Alexandria, a fourth-century princess, was converted to Christianity and in a vision underwent a mystic marriage with Christ. When she would not give up her faith, Emperor Maxentius ordered that she be bound to a spiked wheel and tortured to death. However, a thunderbolt destroyed the wheel before it could harm her. Catherine was then beheaded.Raphael has focused on the visionary aspect of the saint’s faith, capturing her with her hand on heart and her lips parted, in a moment of divine ecstasy looking heavenwards to a golden break in the clouds. In the foreground is a dandelion seed head. The dandelion often appears in Netherlandish and German paintings as a symbol of Christian grief and the Passion (Christ's torture and crucifixion).
Title
Saint Catherine of Alexandria
Date
about 1507
Medium
Oil on poplar
Measurements
H 72.2 x W 55.7 cm
Accession number
NG168
Acquisition method
Bought, 1839
Work type
Painting
The National Gallery, London
Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England
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