Book review: St. Catherine of Alexandria in Renaissance Roman Art: Case Studies in Patronage. Cynthia Stollhans. Farnham: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2014. xi + 192 pp. + 4 color pls. $104.95

Katherine Lewis

Research output: Contribution to journalBook/Film/Dance Article reviewpeer-review

Abstract

This study makes a welcome contribution to our understanding of the enormous popularity of Saint Catherine of Alexandria in the later Middle Ages. Previous studies of Saint Catherine have identified her multifunctional adaptability as key to that popularity. Similarly, Cynthia Stollhans explores the representation and reinvention of Saint Catherine in Rome by focusing on a number of specific visual portrayals, dating from the High Middle Ages to the early modern period. Some of these have already been the subject of substantial analysis: for example, Masolino’s fresco cycle in the church of San Clemente, commissioned by Cardinal Branda Castiglioni, and Pinturicchio’s depiction of Saint Catherine debating with the philosophers, created for the notorious Borgia pope Alexander VI. Others are less well known, such as the apsidal painting of Catherine with three hermit saints to be found in the Sant’Onofrio (the church of the Order of the Hermits of Saint Jerome) and the image of Catherine teaching, which appears in the Theodoli family funerary chapel in Santa Maria del Popolo.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)631-632
Number of pages2
JournalRenaissance Quarterly
Volume68
Issue number2
Early online date1 Jul 2015
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Sep 2015

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