Saint Catherine of Alexandria
1620/21
Medium
Etching on paper
Dimensions
29.5 × 20 cm (11 5/8 × 7 7/8 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
31599
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Peter Paul Rubens was one of the most talented and famous artists in northern Europe in the 17th century. Throughout his career, he relied on professional printmakers to help him publicize his images, but he probably made no more than three etchings, of which Saint Catherine of Alexandria in the Clouds is most often accepted as his work. This sheet depicts the saint atop the wheel of her martyrdom, just as Rubens painted her in the Jesuit church in Antwerp (1620/21). The artist may have turned t...
About the Artist
Peter Paul Rubens · 1577–1640
Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) stands as the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradition and the greatest exponent of Baroque painting's dynamism, vitality, and sensuous exuberance. Born in Siegen, Westphalia, and raised in Antwerp, Rubens received a humanist education studying Latin and classical literature before pursuing artistic training under three masters: Tobias Verhaecht, Adam ...