By Anne Leader
Today, 25 November, is the Feast Day of St. Catherine of Alexandria. Catherine is frequently represented in Italian art, either as a stand-alone subject including narrative scenes from her biography or, more commonly, as an attendant to the Virgin Mary and Christ Child. According to tradition, the princess was martyred in the early 4th century upon the orders of pagan emperor Maxentius for her “crime” of converting hundreds of Romans to Christianity. She had been raised according to the traditional pagan faith of her parents, King Costus and Queen Sabinella of Alexandria. A mystical vision, in which Mary betrothed the young Catherine to Jesus, inspired the saint to conversion and evangelism. Thereafter, Catherine traveled to meet Maxentius, aiming to convince him to stop persecuting Christians, then known as Followers of the Way. The emperor, hoping to humiliate her, staged a debate among the leading philosophers and orators of the day. Catherine defeated them soundly. Though impressing her followers and biographers, her debating skills led to torture, imprisonment, a failed marriage proposal from the emperor, and ultimately her beheading.
Donato and Gregorio d”Arezzo, St. Catherine of Alexandria and Scenes from her Life, tempera on panel, ca. 1330. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 73.PB.69.
Bernardo Daddi, St. Catherine of Alexandria with Donor and Christ Blessing, tempera on panel, c. 1340, Florence: Museo dell’Opera del Duomo
Michelino da Besozzo, The Mystic Marriage of St Catherine, St John the Baptist, St Antony Abbot, tempera on wood, ca. 1420, Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena
Masolino, Scenes from the Life of St. Catherine, 1425-31, fresco, Rome, San Clemente, Castiglione Chapel
Lorenzo Lotto, St. Catherine of Alexandria, 1522, oil on panel, Washington, National Gallery of Art
Jacopo Bassano, The Martyrdom of St Catherine of Alexandria, oil on canvas, 1544, Bassano del Grappa, Museo Biblioteca Archivio
Gaudenzio Ferrari, The Martyrdom of St. Catherine of Alexandria, oil on panel, bef. 1546, Milan, Pinacoteca di Brera
Paolo Veronese, Mystical Marriage of St Catherine, c. 1575, oil on canvas, Venice, Gallerie dell’Accademia
Caravaggio, St Catherine of Alexandria, c. 1598, oil on canvas, Madrid, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza
Artemesia Gentilleschi, St. Catherine of Alexandria, c. 1620, oil on canvas, Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi
Iwould like know more of St. Catherine and her feast day that falls on the 25th November each year
Thank you for your interest! I recommend the entry in the New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03445a.htm and also her biography included in Jacobus da Voragine’s Golden Legend, which is adapted here: https://www.christianiconography.info/goldenLegend/catherine.htm