Andalusian school; 18th century.
"Martyrdom of Saint Catherine".
Oil on canvas. Re-drawn.
It presents jumps in the pictorial surface.
Measurements. 165 x 124,4 cm; 175 x 134 cm (frame).
In this canvas we see the representation of the martyrdom of Saint Catherine, specifically the moment in which the wheel with which she was being tortured breaks due to divine intervention. It is therefore a mystical approach to the theme, far removed from the most bloody formulas, although not without drama. The saint is depicted in the centre, standing and looking up to the sky, illuminated by a golden ray of divine light. Next to her are two soldiers with almost identical features. The cult of Saint Catherine spread throughout Europe from the 6th century onwards, she is included in the group of the holy helpers and is invoked against sudden death. Catherine was born around 290 into a noble family in Alexandria. Gifted with a great intelligence, she soon stood out for her extensive studies, which placed her on the same level as the greatest poets and philosophers of the time. One night Christ appeared to her and she decided, at that moment, to consecrate her life to him and to consider herself his fiancée, in a sort of mystical marriage. When the Emperor Maximian came to Alexandria to preside over a great pagan festival, Catherine took advantage of the occasion to try to convert him to Christianity, which aroused his anger. To test her, Maximian imposed on her a philosophical debate with fifty wise men whom she would try to convert. Catherine succeeded, provoking the emperor's wrath. The emperor had the sages executed, but not before proposing to the saint that she marry one of them, which she flatly refused. The emperor then ordered her to be tortured using a machine with spiked wheels. Miraculously, the wheels broke when they touched Catherine's body, and she was finally beheaded.
The 17th century saw the arrival of the Baroque style in the Andalusian school, a style that would reach its full maturity at the end of the century, and also throughout the 18th century. With the new style came the triumph of naturalism over Mannerist idealism, a loose style and many other aesthetic liberties. At this time the school reached its greatest splendour, both in terms of the quality of the works and the primordial status of Sevillian Baroque painting. Thus, during the transition to the Baroque period, we find Juan del Castillo, Antonio Mohedano and Francisco Herrera el Viejo, whose works already display the rapid brushstrokes and crude realism of the style, and Juan de Roelas, who introduced Venetian colourism. The middle of the century saw the fullness of the period, with figures such as Zurbarán, a young Alonso Cano and Velázquez. Finally, in the last third of the century we find Murillo and Valdés Leal, founders in 1660 of an Academy where many of the painters active in the 18th century were trained, such as Meneses Osorio, Sebastián Gómez, Lucas Valdés and others.