Predella Panel from an Altarpiece: St. Catherine of Siena Invested with the Dominican Habit
Medium
tempera and gold on wood panel
Dimensions
unframed: 28.9 × 23 cm · framed: 35.6 × 29.5 × 4.5 cm
Classification
Painting
Department
Medieval Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust
Accession Number
1966.2
Tags
About this artwork
Saint Catherine (1347–1380) was the daughter of a prosperous Sienese cloth dyer. At the age of six, she saw a vision of Christ and thereafter dedicated herself to chastity, penance, and good works. She became extremely popular in Siena when she selflessly cared for the sick and dying victims of the bubonic plague, known as the Black Death. These panels were once part of a predella (or pedestal) of a large altarpiece painted for the Hospital Church of Siena. The main scene of this altarpiece, sho...