Mystic marriage of Saint Catherine

Painted in 1859—when Bazille was only seventeen—and now in the Église Saint-Martin de Beaune-la-Rolande, this early religious composition demonstrates that Bazille had significant artistic ambitions well before his formal training in Paris. The Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine is a devotional subject with a long tradition from Correggio and Veronese through the 17th century, depicting the saint's mystical union with the infant Christ. That a teenage Bazille should attempt such a subject, and produce a work substantial enough for permanent church installation, reveals the precocious confidence that would characterise his entire brief career.

The early work shows the influence of his provincial artistic education, with more conventional academic handling than his mature oils. The religious subject demands careful figure arrangement and a warm, devotional palette. The composition follows established iconographic conventions for the mystical marriage subject.