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The Virgin and Child with Saint Catherine of Alexandria and Saint Catherine of Siena

Ambrogio Bergognone (c.1460–1523)

The National Gallery, London

The Virgin and Child with Saint Catherine of Alexandria and Saint Catherine of Siena

Image credit: The National Gallery, London

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We are clearly looking into heaven in this large painting. The Virgin Mary sits on a carved and gilded throne, the Christ Child standing on her lap. They are flanked by Saints Catherine of Alexandria, dressed as a princess, and Catherine of Siena in the habit of a Dominican nun. The figures are linked by their hands: the Virgin holds Catherine of Siena’s hand, while Christ places a ring on Catherine of Alexandria’s finger (the saint had a vision of herself as a ‘bride of Christ’ and, because of this, refused to marry the Roman emperor).

This painting was one of ten Bergognone made for the Certosa (Charterhouse) of Pavia in the late 1480s and 1490s. It presumably hung in the fifth chapel off the left aisle of the nave, which is dedicated to the two Saints Catherine.

The National Gallery, London

London

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Title

The Virgin and Child with Saint Catherine of Alexandria and Saint Catherine of Siena

Date

about 1490

Medium

Oil on poplar

Measurements

H 187.5 x W 129.5 cm

Accession number

NG298

Acquisition method

Bought, 1857

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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Artist or maker

Ambrogio Bergognone

c.1460–1523

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