ss. caterina d'alessandria e jacopo maggiore

Bernardo Daddi's Saints Catherine of Alexandria and James the Elder (ss. caterina d'alessandria e jacopo maggiore) belongs to his polyptych altarpiece production, pairing the learned virgin martyr with the apostle-pilgrim whose shrine at Santiago de Compostela attracted pilgrims from across Europe. Catherine, patron of scholars and philosophers, and James, patron of pilgrims and Spain, provided complementary forms of sanctity: intellectual achievement and apostolic mission. Daddi's gold-ground panels give each saint the precise individual attributes that made them identifiable within the visual vocabulary of medieval iconographic tradition.

Egg tempera on gold-ground panel with tooled haloes and ornamental borders. The figures display Daddi's characteristic gentle modeling and graceful proportions, with richly patterned textiles rendered in careful detail against the reflective gold surface.