Early 16th Century. Circle of Ghirlandaio Family. St Catheri...

Estimate

£12,000 - £18,000

Early 16th Century. Circle of Ghirlandaio Family. St Catherine of Siena, Tempera on a cradled poplar panel, In a later silver frame, 20.75" x 14.5" (52.7 x 36.8cm). Notes: Depicted as a serene figure, eyes closed and holding in her hand a single rose and a handwritten prayer book in allusion to her writings, St Catherine wears the white veil and black cloak of the Dominican Tertiary. The stigmata unusually showing through her tunic on the left side of her body rather than the right, and a suggestion of the stigmata on her hand. It was believed she wished for her stigmata to be invisible in her lifetime and only appeared on her body after death.
Caterina di Jacopo di Benincasa was born during the plague in 1347, the youngest of twenty five children. She resisted her parent’s intent for her to marry and instead dedicated her life to the sick and poor. At the age of twenty one she experienced a ‘spiritual espousal’ to Christ. She became instrumental in bringing about the return of the papacy from Avignon to Rome and established a women’s monastery near Siena in 1377. The Chapel of Saint Catherine, Basilica of San Domenico in Siena is home to the mummified head of Saint Catherine wearing a white veil, her shrine bears a single rose bud.