Cleveland Museum of Art

Saint Catherine with a Kneeling Male Donor

Date

1400s

Medium

pot metal, white glass with silver stain

Culture

France, Poitou, Melle, 15th century

Department

Medieval Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

This panel was originally part of a much larger composition. Saint Catherine stands behind a donor, a cleric, who faces a missing scene representing either the Crucifixion or the standing Virgin, which would have formed the object of the donor’s devotion. In the lower right corner an inscription identifies the donor as rector de Melle, a clergyman in charge of the parish of the town of Melle in western France. The panel must have been commissioned for a church in this town with which the donor was affiliated. A scroll near the donor reads Miserere mei deus (God have mercy on me). When donors commissioned art during the medieval period, they often requested their image to be included alongside the divine figures. This anonymous kneeling figure paid for this stained glass window, creating a visual reminder of his generosity and piety.

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