Saint Catherine, Lower Rhine Circa 1480

Wooden sculpture depicting Saint Catherine of Alexandria

Provenance Lower Rhine or Southern Tyrol Late 15th century (circa 1480)

Linden wood (single trunk, hollowed back), traces of polychromy on the back

Height: 105 cm

This wooden sculpture, depicting an elegant full-length Saint Elizabeth, is the work of a master sculptor of Gothic heritage who was active towards the end of the 15th century.

Alluding to her noble origins as a princess, the saint appears crowned with a jewelled headdress resting on her long flowing hair, and presents herself as refined and elegant but with a solemn demeanour.

Worthy of mention are the sumptuous robes that envelop her figure, consisting of a sophisticated bodice at the waist, worked with a pattern reminiscent of brocade fabric and embellished with a vertical band adorned with precious stones.

The Holy Queen is then wrapped in a cloak placed on her shoulders and closed at the chest with a knot, a decorative detail with symbolic value that, in all likelihood, could be a reference to her union with Christ or her spiritual bond.

Her left hand holds up her richly pleated and draped skirt, while her right hand, now missing, may once have held a sceptre or a book, or simply been placed in a gesture of blessing.

With its elegant design, evoking the canons of the French Gothic tradition, the sculpture will capture the admiration of any lover of ancient sculpture, certainly for its ideal beauty but also for the strength and sense of solemnity it conveys.

The quality of the work and the richness of the details, among which the drapery carved with great precision in the wood stands out, allow it to be compared to the rich sculptural production typical of the Lower Rhine area (or, as previously suggested, although less likely, of South Tyrol), which, from the 14th-15th centuries onwards, became one of the major centres specialising in the art of sculpture.

Our artist was inspired by Italian and, above all, Flemish Renaissance culture; his style is therefore a personal synthesis of these two influences with French Gothic art. Speaking of Flemish influences, the work echoes the magnificent statue with the same subject, now housed in the Museum Catharijneconvent in Utrecht, a late 15th-century work by the Master of Leende

Typical of Flemish art are the sumptuous clothes with heavy folds, the rounded egg-shaped heads, almond-shaped eyes, thick and spaced strands of hair and a subtle attention to detail. This is a work of exceptional sculptural quality, presented in good condition for its age, with a splendid burnished patina; there are some losses consistent with its age.