''Saint Catherine of Alexandra'' is a painting by the Italian Baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi. It is in the collection of the

Uffizi The Uffizi Gallery (; it, Galleria degli Uffizi, italic=no, ) is a prominent art museum located adjacent to the Piazza della Signoria in the Historic Centre of Florence in the region of Tuscany, Italy. One of the most important Italian museums ...

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...

. Gentileschi likely used the same cartoon or preparatory drawing to create both this painting and the ''

Self-Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria ''Self-Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria'' is a 1615–1617 painting by the Italian Baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi, showing the artist in the guise of Catherine of Alexandria. It is now in the collection of the National Gallery, Lo ...

'' (1615–1617), now in the

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Subject Matter

The painting is a representation of

Catherine Katherine, also spelled Catherine, and other variations are feminine names. They are popular in Christian countries because of their derivation from the name of one of the first Christian saints, Catherine of Alexandria. In the early Christ ...

, the daughter of King Costus of Alexandria, who defied the emperor Maxentius with her staunch defense of her Christian faith. She was sentenced to death by use of a spiked wheel, but was saved when the instrument miraculously broke. She was subsequently beheaded and later recognized as a Christian

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

, with the broken spiked wheel as her symbol. She is portrayed in a striking red gown with gold embellishment, holding the martyr's

palm frond The palm branch is a symbol of victory, triumph, peace, and eternal life originating in the ancient Near East and Mediterranean world. The palm ''( Phoenix)'' was sacred in Mesopotamian religions, and in ancient Egypt represented immortality. ...

and wearing an elaborate gem-encrusted crown.

History

Provenance

While there is no clear evidence to identify a date for this painting, art historians believe it was created during the artist's time in Florence, when

Caterina de' Medici Catherine de' Medici ( it, Caterina de' Medici, ; french: Catherine de Médicis, ; 13 April 1519 – 5 January 1589) was an Florentine noblewoman born into the Medici family. She was Queen of France This is a list of the women who we ...

was in residence. Depictions of a saint renowned for her beauty and modesty became very popular in Florence during this period, as artists sought patronage from the Medici court. Researchers have further observed the similarity between the image of the martyr's crown and one made for Ferdinand I de' Medici. By 1683, the painting was documented as being in the Medici collection at Villa Artimino, in the Apartment of the Courtly Ladies. By 1890, the painting was in the collection of the

Galleria dell'Accademia The Galleria dell'Accademia di Firenze, or "Gallery of the Academy of Florence", is an art museum in Florence, Italy. It is best known as the home of Michelangelo's sculpture ''David''. It also has other sculptures by Michelangelo and a large ...

Restoration

A significant campaign of restoration was completed in 1966, which recovered a painting once believed to be too fragile for public display. The painting suffered further damage from the 1993 bombing near the Uffizi, which was subsequently restored.

Scientific Analysis

Self-Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria (Gentileschi)

In 2019, this painting was examined by conservators in the Opificio delle Pietre Dure in

. Infrared, ultraviolet, and x-ray studies demonstrated that Gentileschi changed the composition while she was in the middle of painting it. The underpainting reveals a female head wearing a turban, oriented towards the viewer. This differs from Gentileschi's final composition in which Saint Catherine wears a crown and looks up towards heaven. Tracings from the

's ''

'' were compared to this underpainting and the study concluded that Gentileschi used the same cartoon or preparatory drawings for both of these images. This conclusion provides evidence that Gentileschi used herself as a model when painting images of female

martyrs A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external ...

. In addition, the x-rays revealed a third face that was completely painted over in the final version. This was likely an initial sketch for an unrealized work of art, demonstrating that Gentileschi reused her canvases. The final painted image is thought to represent a real person, according to art historians, and may depict Caterina de' Medici,

Maria Maddalena of Austria Maria Maddalena of Austria (Maria Magdalena; 7 October 1589 – 1 November 1631) was Grand Duchess of Tuscany from the accession of her husband, Cosimo II, in 1609 until his death in 1621. With him, she had eight children, including a duchess of ...

or the artist herself.

References

{{Artemisia Gentileschi Paintings by Artemisia Gentileschi category:1610s paintings Paintings in the collection of the Uffizi Paintings of Catherine of Alexandria