Saint Catherine (Caravaggio)

Painting by Caravaggio

Saint Catherine of Alexandria (c. 1598) is an oil painting (173x133 cm) by the Italian Baroque master Caravaggio, painted from 1598 1599. It is part of the Thyssen Bornemisza Collection of Madrid.

The painting was part of the collection of Cardinal Francesco Maria Del Monte, where it was cataloged in 1627. The saint, together with Mary Magdelene, were among the Cardinal's favorites. According to Alessandro Zuccari, it was painted on the suggestion of the Cardinal when Caravaggio was living with him in the Palazzo Madama. As the model for the saint, Caravaggio controversially chose Fillide Melandroni, a well known Roman prostitute he had fallen in love with and who caused him many problems. Fillide would again model for him in Martha and Mary Magdalene, Judith Beheading Holofernes, and in a single portrait burned in Berlin during World War II.

Saint Catherine of Alexandria was a popular figure in Catholic iconography. Her qualities are supposed to be those of beauty, fearlessness, virginity, and intelligence. She was of noble origins, and dedicated herself as a Christian after having a vision. At the age of 18 she confronted the Roman Emperor Maximus (presumably this refers to Galerius Maximianus), debated his pagan philosophers, and succeeded in converting many of them to Christianity. Imprisoned by the emperor, she converted his empress and the leader of his armies. Maximus executed her converts (including the empress) and ordered that Catherine herself be put to death on a spiked wheel. The wheel reportedly shattered the moment Catherine touched it. Maximus then had her beheaded. She became patron saint of libraries and librarians, as well as teachers, archivists, and all those associated with wisdom and teaching, and all those whose livelihoods depended upon wheels. The year of her martyrdom was traditionally held to have been 305 (the year of a major persecution of Christians under Galerius), and her feastday was celebrated on 25 November. In 1969 the Church removed her from the calendar of saints, persuaded by the overwhelming opinion of historians that Catherine had probably never existed. By 2002, while the majority of historians had not changed their minds, the Church had, and she was reinstated.