Cristofano Allori – Saint Catherine of Siena (115 × 92 cm), early 17th century. The painting depicts the saint in a state of prayerful ecstasy. Her white monastic habit, the crown of thorns on her head, and the rosary at her waist indicate the Dominican Order and identify her as Saint Catherine of Siena. She turns toward a Crucifix placed in the upper right; her gaze and expression are filled with mystical feeling. On the table beside her lie books, a prayer book, and a skull – traditional attributes of contemplative asceticism and memento mori. The painting is distinguished by crisp modeling, strong chiaroscuro, and meticulous attention to detail, aligning it with the late-Mannerist tradition of the late 16th and early 17th centuries, in which spiritual expressiveness is joined with compositional clarity.

Saint Catherine of Siena (by birth, Caterina Benincasa) lived in the 14th century and is regarded as a patron saint of Italy. In 1375 she received the stigmata; in 1461 she was canonized. She is shown with a crown of thorns on her head, in analogy with Christ. She is one of the most venerated female saints in Catholicism and is recognized as one of the four female Doctors of the Church. Through her writings, by the end of the 14th century Catherine completed the work – begun by Dante at the start of the century – of establishing Italian as a literary language.

There is an expert opinion by Marco Tanzi of the University of Salento confirming the authorship of Cristofano Allori, the son and pupil of Alessandro Allori, one of the well-known Mannerist painters of the Florentine school, nicknamed “the Younger Bronzino”. He served as court portraitist to the Medici family. Alfred de Musset ranked Allori’s Judith with the Head of Holofernes among the finest works of art in Italy. Works by Allori hang in such world-class galleries as the Uffizi, the Palazzo Pitti, the Prado, and others. The painting is in excellent condition.

Size: 115 x 92 cm.