Luca Signorelli
Italian, c. 1441/50–1523
The Martyrdom of Saint Catherine of Alexandria
c. 1490
Three episodes from the legend of Saint Catherine of Alexandria appear side by side in Signorelli’s painting. On the left, a pagan emperor sits enthroned alongside his wisest philosophers, whom Catherine would skillfully convert to her Christian beliefs. On the right, angels destroy a wheel devised by the enraged emperor to torture Catherine, and in the center, she has been beheaded. This panel originally formed part of a row of small images—a predella—beneath the main sections of an altarpiece commissioned for a chapel in the church of Sant’Agostino in Siena.
| Medium | oil, tempera, and gold on panel |
| Dimensions | 11 5/8 x 36 3/8 in. (29.6 x 92.4 cm) |
| Object Number | 1955.952 |
| Acquisition | Acquired by Sterling and Francine Clark before 1955 |
| Status | On View |
Image Caption
Luca Signorelli, The Martyrdom of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, c. 1490, oil, tempera, and gold on panel. Clark Art Institute, 1955.952
