Spanish or Italian school; 18th century.

Spanish or Italian school; XVIII century.
"Saint Catherine of Siena".
Oil on canvas. Relined.
It presents faults in the pictorial surface and damages caused by xylophages.
Measurements: 198 x 129 cm.
This canvas represents the mystical nuptials of Saint Catherine, narrated by Santiago de la Vorágine in his "Leyenda Dorada". The legend tells that Saint Catherine was of royal lineage, daughter of a Sicilian queen and a Samaritan prince, and that at eighteen years of age she still did not marry because she considered herself so beautiful and intelligent that no mortal man deserved her. The hermit Ananias asked her to marry a husband superior to all men on earth, but the young woman demanded to see him before marrying him. The hermit then instructed her to lock herself in her room at night, to light the torches as if to receive a great guest, and to pronounce aloud the invocation: "Lady, Mother of God, be gracious to me by allowing me to see your Divine Son". So she did, and the Virgin appeared to her with the Child, who offered Jesus to her in marriage. The Child, however, refused to take her as his wife because she was not beautiful enough. She interpreted the dream as an accusation of lack of faith, and withdrew to the desert to learn the Christian precepts with the hermit, and was baptized. In a new dream the Child accepted her beauty, the beauty of her soul, and Catherine became the celestial bride of Christ, a marriage that was confirmed when Jesus placed a ring on her finger.
The work takes place in an interior with the Virgin and Child elevated, with respect to the saint, thus indicating her divine power. The author starts from a classical composition that allows order and quality despite the large number of characters that are portrayed in the image.