De H. Catharina (links); de H. Maria Magdalena (rechts)

Joos van Cleve painted these wings depicting Saint Catherine of Alexandria and Saint Mary Magdalene around 1515, flanking panels from an altarpiece whose central section depicted the Virgin and Child or a Passion scene. Saint Catherine and Mary Magdalene were two of the most popular female saints in northern European devotional culture, frequently paired as representatives of learned piety and penitent love respectively. Joos van Cleve's ability to depict female saints with individual character while maintaining idealized beauty made his altarpiece wings particularly sought after. The works demonstrate his facility with the standard Flemish altarpiece format and his skill in rendering the attributes—Catherine's sword and wheel, Magdalene's ointment jar—that identified each saint to devotional viewers.

The panel demonstrates the refined Netherlandish technique with careful surface finish, luminous color, and the meticulous rendering characteristic of the artist's workshop production.