St. Catharine of Siena, Hl. Dominians

This panel of Saints Catherine of Siena and Dominic by Marco d'Oggiono belongs to the Leonardesque school of Milan. D'Oggiono was one of Leonardo da Vinci's most faithful followers, producing numerous devotional panels and copies of the master's works that disseminated the Leonardesque style throughout Lombardy and beyond. The oil medium allowed for rich tonal transitions and glazed layers of color that created luminous depth impossible with the older tempera technique. Such devotional panels served both liturgical contexts in churches and chapels and private devotional use in the homes of wealthy families who maintained personal altars and oratories.

The painting shows d'Oggiono's close adherence to Leonardo's sfumato technique in the soft modeling of faces and drapery, though with a slightly harder contour and more decorative approach that distinguishes his work from the master's.