Saint Catherine Reading, ca. 1480 – 1490

About the Work

Owing to its small format, this engraving—of which only a single print has survived—is well suited to being pasted in, for example, a prayer book. The saint sits on a grassy bank and reads a book, behind her a city (or sprawling castle complex) rendered with great fondness for detail. At her feet lie the instruments of her martyrdom. According to the legend, she was initially to be tortured on a wheel, which broke to pieces. In the end she was beheaded with a sword.