The Beheading of Saint Catherine
Medium
Engraving in black on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Plate: 18.5 × 17.4 cm (7 5/16 × 6 7/8 in.); Sheet: 18.8 × 17.8 cm (7 7/16 × 7 1/16 in.)
Classification
engraving
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
50146
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Saint Catherine of Alexandria, kneeling with head bowed low, appears just below the center of this circular composition. The saint has already miraculously withstood martyrdom on the wheel, a form of torture that the shape of this engraving plate may reference. She will at last succumb to her executioners, but not without converting hundreds to Christianity by her example. Domenico Campagnola’s fluid, sketchy engraving reinforces the tumultuous scene and emphasizes the dramatically raised sword.
About the Artist
Domenico Campagnola · 1500–1564
Domenico Campagnola (c. 1500–1564), a Venetian Renaissance painter, engraver, and pioneering draftsman, was born around 1500, likely in Venice to German parents, and became a child prodigy under the tutelage of his adoptive father, Giulio Campagnola. Apprenticed to Giulio around 1507 in Venice, he mastered painting, drawing, engraving, and woodcutting from the esteemed Paduan engraver, whose stipp...