St Catherine Carried to her Tomb by Angels
Bernardino Luini·1520
Historical Context
St Catherine Carried to Her Tomb by Angels from around 1520 by Bernardino Luini at the Pinacoteca di Brera depicts the legend of angels transporting the martyr's body to Mount Sinai after her execution. The miraculous transportation, attested in the Golden Legend and widely depicted in Italian art, allowed Luini to combine his devotional figure style with a celestial setting that demonstrated his range beyond more static Madonna types. Catherine of Alexandria was among the most popular saints in Renaissance Italy, and Luini contributed multiple images of her to the Milanese devotional tradition. The Pinacoteca di Brera is the major repository of Lombard painting in Milan and provides the ideal institutional context for understanding Luini's position within the rich tradition of north Italian sacred art.
Technical Analysis
The angelic procession is rendered with Luini's characteristic grace and soft modeling, the flying angels creating a sense of heavenly movement and divine care.
