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1 of 253523 objects
Agostino Carracci (Bologna
1557-Parma 1602)
The Holy Family with Saints John the Baptist and Catherine of Alexandria. c.1580-90
Oil on canvas | 128.5 x 113.5 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external) | RCIN 407405
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At the centre of the painting the Virgin clasps the Christ Child on her lap and caresses the head of St John the Baptist with her right hand. St Joseph sits at the left. The Christ Child offers the palm of martyrdom to St Catherine, who stands at the right.
An extremely popular subject in art, St Catherine of Alexandria, virgin and martyr, is said to have been executed under the Emperor Maxentius in the fourth century. The saint is more frequently shown receiving a ring from the Christ Child to indicate her 'marriage', but here it is the martyr's palm. When tortured on a wheel, she was unharmed and the wheel miraculously broke; subsequently she was killed by a sword. Both of these are indicated in this painting; her left hand is on the hilt of a sword, under which a broken portion of her wheel is visible.
The painting's attribution has presented some difficulty, but it is currently attributed to Agostino Carracci.Provenance
Possibly no 105 in the 1627 Gonzaga inventory, in which case it is likely to be the Mantua piece recorded at Nonesuch in March 1639 and sold for £8 to John Jackson and others on 21 October 1651 (no 10); recovered at the Restoration and recorded in the 2nd Privy Lodging Room at Whitehall in 1666 (no 170) as by an ‘Italian hand’.
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Creator(s)
Previously attributed to (artist)Acquirer(s)
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Medium and techniques
Oil on canvas
Measurements
128.5 x 113.5 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external)
144.2 x 127.7 x 6.3 cm (frame, external)
Category
Object type(s)
