Saint Barbara
c. 1520
Medium
Oil on panel
Dimensions
82.3 × 28.1 cm (32 3/8 × 11 1/16 in.); Framed: 110.5 × 56.6 × 7.7 cm (43 1/2 × 22 1/4 × 3 in.)
Classification
oil on panel
Department
Painting and Sculpture of Europe
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
100347
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Jean Bellegambe depicted Saint Catherine and Saint Barbara wearing luxury fashions from his own time. Saint Catherine—identifiable by the sword with which she was martyred and the wheel on which she was tortured—wears her sleeves slit at the forearms, revealing puffs of fine white linen. Her crown, decorated with fleurs-de-lis, and red cape, lined with spotted ermine, were fashionable among the 16th-century French monarchy and highlight her status as a princess. Saint Barbara, seated in front of...