The Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine

Description

Giorgio Ghisi’s devotional print is influenced by the style of Fontainebleau artists. Ghisi may have known Francesco Primaticcio when they were both working in Mantua, and adapted his sculptural engraving style to the painter’s languid elegance. Primaticcio is not known for religious scenes; the original painting, now lost, would have been an unusual part of his oeuvre. The scene shows the infant Christ putting a ring on the finger of Saint Catherine of Siena, a 14th-century Dominican tertiary nun who received the stigmata as part of her calling to become a bride of Christ.

The Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine

Giorgio Ghisi

1555/57

Accession Number

117614

Medium

Engraving in black on cream laid paper

Dimensions

Plate/sheet: 32.5 × 25.1 cm (12 13/16 × 9 15/16 in.)

Classification

engraving

Museum

The Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago, United States

Credit Line

Purchased with funds provided by Dr. William D. Shorey; William and Sara Shorey Fund; Sara R. Shorey Endowment