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The Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine

Image credit: The National Gallery, London

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Notes

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The infant Christ places a ring on Saint Catherine’s finger in her vision of a ‘mystic marriage’. Parmigianino has positioned the gold ring with a blue stone at the very centre of the painting. Beside Saint Catherine is the spiked wheel upon which she was tortured for her Christian faith.

The identity and significance of the pair of figures in the distant room is unclear. The placement of the large male head in profile in the lower left corner is also very odd; the halo suggests he is Saint Joseph.

Parmigianino was influenced by a painting of the same subject by Correggio (Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte, Naples). However, Parmigianino has created a more mysterious and consciously ‘artificial’ image. This work may have been painted in Bologna after the artist fled from Rome in 1527, when the city was sacked by the troops of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.

The National Gallery, London

London

Title

The Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine

Date

about 1527-31

Medium

Oil on wood

Measurements

H 74.2 x W 57.2 cm

Accession number

NG6427

Acquisition method

Bought, 1974

Work type

Painting

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Normally on display at

The National Gallery, London

Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England

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