Die Heiligen Katharina und Wolfgang

Hans Strigel was a painter active in Memmingen in Swabia from the 1480s through the 1510s, one of the most prolific altarpiece painters of the South German region in his generation. His panel of Saints Catherine of Siena and Wolfgang belongs to the altarpiece wing format in which individual saints were depicted as standing figures to flank the central devotional image. Catherine of Siena — the Dominican mystic canonised in 1461 — and Wolfgang — the bishop of Regensburg canonised in 1052 — were both popular saints in the South German context, Catherine through Dominican influence and Wolfgang through his particular veneration in Bavaria.

Strigel employs the Swabian late Gothic oil-tempera technique with careful rendering of the two saints' attributes: Catherine's Dominican habit and lily or stigmata, Wolfgang's bishop's staff and book. The figures stand against a gold ground with landscape glimpses, in the format standard for Memmingen workshop altarpiece wings. Strigel's figure modelling is solid and assured, reflecting his large workshop's efficiency without sacrificing individual quality.