The Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
Sheet: 6 9/16 × 4 5/8 in. (16.7 × 11.8 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1926
Accession Number
26.70.3(171)
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the intimate etching *The Mystic Marriage of St Catherine*, created in the 16th, visitors encounter a quintessential Renaissance devotional scene. Attributed to the Mannerist master Parmigianino (Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola) collaboration with Venetian printmakers Marco Angolo Moro and Andrea Schiav (Andrea Meldola), work depicts the saint's mystical union with the Christ Child. Surrounded by angels, infants, men, and women, St. Catherine receives a ring from the infant Jesus—a symbol of spiritual betrothal that captivated Catholic audiences during the Counter-Reformation era. Etching...
About the Artist
Parmigianino (Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola)|Marco Angolo del Moro|Andrea Schiavone (Andrea Meldola) · 1503–1540
Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola, known as Parmigianino, was born on January 11, 1503, in Parma, into a family of artists. The eighth child of painter Filippo Mazzola and Donatella Abbati, he lost his father to the plague at age two and was raised by his uncles, Michele and Pier Ilario Mazzola, modestly talented painters who taught him the techniques of the craft. By his late teens, Parmigianino d...