St Catherine

Saint Catherine from 1529 by Bernardino Luini is one of several depictions of this popular saint in his oeuvre. Catherine of Alexandria, the learned virgin martyr, was a favorite subject for Luini, whose gentle style was particularly suited to images of beautiful, devout women Oil on canvas, increasingly preferred over panel in the sixteenth century, offered greater flexibility for large-scale compositions The work is now in the collection of Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg.

The saint is rendered with Luini's characteristic idealized feminine beauty, the soft sfumato modeling creating a gentle, contemplative mood appropriate to devotional imagery.