Saint Catherine's story

Saint Catherine of Alexandria, a fourth-century Christian martyr from northern Africa, was a figure of great fascination for European artists from the Middle Ages onwards.

Catherine's attributes include a crown, royal robes, an open prayer book and a sword.

Her story was popularised through retellings of saints' lives in books like The Golden Legend.

It was through these stories and countless depictions that Saint Catherine's 'attributes' became standardised: these are the features and objects by which saints can be recognised.

And perhaps most common of all her attributes is the spiked 'Catherine' wheel.

This pane of stained glass also includes the ruler over whom she triumphed – the emperor Maxentius – crushed beneath her feet.

Here Saint Catherine's story is told in a series of individual episodes spread over two panels. 

On the throne is the artist's impression of the Emperor Maxentius, who fell in love with Catherine and intended to take her for his wife. He demanded that she renounce her new faith and ordered 50 philosophers to persuade Catherine to change her mind.

But instead of winning her over, Catherine converted them to Christianity whereupon Maxentius had the philosophers burned alive.

Maxentius was so enraged he had an instrument of torture built – revolving wheels with iron spikes – to which Catherine was bound.

Before the wheels could harm her, a thunderbolt from heaven destroyed them.

Catherine was later beheaded. This is why the executioner's sword is one of her attributes, along with the wheel.

In a final detail, Saint Catherine's body is shown being carried by angels to the monastery on Mount Sinai, which still claims to possess her relics.

Another important episode in Catherine's story is depicted here by Gerard David, a 15th-century artist working in Bruges.  

It shows Saint Catherine, dressed in splendid robes, kneeling beside the Virgin Mary, receiving a ring from the Christ Child.

Saint Catherine's popularity as a figure of veneration meant she frequently featured in altarpieces and devotional works of art.

As artistic interests and methods changed over time, so did her image.

In this 16th-century panel by Raphael, he dispenses with the trappings of royalty to focus on the visionary aspect of Catherine's faith. 

With her hand brought gracefully to her breast and her lips parted, she looks towards heaven.

Saint Catherine’s beautiful curving  contrapposto  pose (with her shoulders moving one way and her hips another) recalls a classical statue of Venus as well as works by Raphael's contemporaries (and rivals) Michelangelo and Leonardo. 

At the very end of the 16th century, when Artemisia Gentileschi was just a young girl, Caravaggio painted this arresting image of Saint Catherine.

He sets her against a plain, dark background and shows her kneeling on a cushion.

Leaning against the broken wheel – so much larger and more physically threatening than in Raphael's idealised depiction – Caravaggio's young saint clasps the executioner's sword to her chest.

Using dramatic lighting, Caravaggio picks out highlights on the saint's eyes and glints of light on the sharp spikes of the wheel.

Her gaze is wary yet intelligent.

Artemisia brings her Saint Catherine much closer to the viewer than Caravaggio. 

The tight crop of the image intensifies her physical presence.

Artemisia brings the saint's hand close to the sharp spikes of the broken wheel to underscore the violence of the torture Catherine endured.

But both her hands – one on the wheel and the other delicately holding the palm – suggest poise and resolve.  

Artemisia gives her Catherine a crown but, unlike Raphael, she has her saint directly hold the viewers' gaze.

Catherine's facial features are Artemisia's own.