Art in CONTEXT

A quiet yet powerful drama unfolds in this scene from St.Catherine's life. After Roman Emperor Maxentius imprisoned Catherine for spreading the Gospel and converting many of his pagan philosophers, Faustina Maxentius' wife decides to visit the learned and holy woman. Upon their meeting, Faustina is immediately converted to Christianity. With its emphasis upon conversion, this painting is the perfect example of a Counter Reformation plea for the return of the faithful to the Roman Catholic Church. Much like a scene from a grand Baroque opera, this life-sized composition is staged in swirling, upwardly progressing levels, from the burly jailers in the lower right to the angelic spectator above. The painting anticipates Catherine's torturous ordeal on the wheel from which she was miraculously released while it simultaneously hints at Catherine's ultimate martyrdom for her faith.

Bearing an inventory number of the Roman Barberini family collection, this large and impressive altarpiece painted for a Roman church or private chapel, is one of Mattia Preti's masterworks. Originally from Calabria and knighted by Pope Urban VIII in 1641 (hence his nickname "Il Cavaliere Calabrese"), Preti's early works show the inevitable influence of the important painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. However, Preti's later style demonstrates a tempering of Caravaggio's dramatic realism with an increased admiration for the illusionism of Giovanni Lanfranco. Preti's style was well suited to such contemporary trends in Baroque Rome and Naples for ecclesiastical paintings that directed the attention of the faithful to pious thoughts of Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the saints.

Throughout its history, the Roman Catholic Church had long placed great importance in the veneration of the saints, and images such as this served to demonstrate the endurance and power of the Christian faith - especially in times of great adversity. Although little fact is known of St. Catherine of Alexandria, popular devotion to her throughout the Middle Ages to the Baroque period is testimony to the power of her traditionally held wisdom and holiness.

Dominique H. Vasseur

SUGGESTED READINGS:

Spear, Richard E. Caravaggio and His Followers. Cleveland Museum of Art, 1971.

Waterhouse, Ellis. Italian Baroque Painting. London: Phaidon Publishers and the New York Graphic Society, 1962.

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