A Normand 15th c. limestone figure of St Catherine

Important statue of Saint Catherine carved in the round in limestone.
Standing, she is dressed in a surcoat over the dress with a square neckline and a large open coat held in place by a cord with flowers.
The draperies that animate her clothes vary between the suppleness and fluidity of her dress whose long folds are hollowed out in depth, to more rounded folds, although broken in the hollows of her coat; rolled up at the right arm, the tail of the coat is brought forward, left side falls in volutes under the arm.
Her oval face has youthful features: full cheeks, a half-open mouth with thick lips, lowered eyes.
Her head, encircled with a crown of precious stones, is adorned with admirable hair with abundant tight and puffy curls, forming a mass on each side of her face and starting towards the back.
Her hairstyle, rare in statuary, where the Saints wear long hair falling over the shoulders, finds its inspiration in the illuminations of the 15th century.
Her head is bent over the open book of the Gospels which she presents in her right hand. The book with curled pages strikes with its realism.
At her feet, the emperor Maximilian, bearded, wearing a crowned hat.
In the folds between her dress and her coat is revealed the wheel, the symbol of her martyrdom.
Our Saint Catherine captivates us with her expressiveness and her innocence expressed through her features by a sculptor passionate about plastic research in order to transmit his own religious sensibility.

15th century, Normandy area
Height: 75cm

Limestone sculpted in the round
Original polychromy and gilding with later repaints.
Visible lacks.

Our Saint Catherine has many similarities with the statues dating from the 15th century in the region of Normandy, which also have this curly hair that flies above the shoulders.
The Holy Woman or Queen of the Prieuré de Graville museum in Le Havre, although slightly mutilated, sports this characteristic mass of curly hair.

Our statue can also be stylistically compared to the angel Gabriel of the annunciation group of the Château de Bois-Héroult (kept in the Musée de Cluny, inv Cl. 23796). The abundant hair with tight, hollow curls of the angel looks exactly the same as that of our Saint Catherine. We also find the slightly rounded forehead, the well-emphasized lower eyelids as well as the slightly rounded eyebrow arches, the full cheeks.
In the same aesthetic movement, Saint Catherine of the church of Carentan (50500) also presents similar features. A mass of curly hair above the shoulders and the particular sway that brings out the right knee.

Books consulted:
Gothic masterpieces in Normandy, Sandrine Berthelot, 2008
Flamboyant sculpture, Normandy Ile-de-France, Jacques Baudoin, 1983