Altarpiece of St. Catherine of Alexandria

Abstract

Niccolò Ferrando's Altarpiece of St. Catherine in Santa Caterina d'Alessandria in Galatina is made of light-coloured stone from Lecce. Catherine's eyes have dark painted pupils, and the eyes of the other figures are pupilless blanks, so the work was likely originally at least partially polychromed. St. Catherine stands in the niche at the centre of the altar. The Emperor Maxentius (triumphed over as a pagan heretic) appears to be falling out of the scene, and lies at the bottom of the altar at St. Catherine's feet. In her left hand St. Catherine holds the spiked wheel upon which the emperor had condemned her to die. Photograph(s) licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.