Getty Museum
Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine
Creator
Bartolomeo BiscainoItalian Artist · 1632–1657
All works by this person →Bartolomeo Biscaino's life was cut short by the plague, and little is known about him. He first trained with his father, a landscape painter. In the late 1640s he entered the workshop of Valerio Castello, a painter of violent contrasts and fiery, scintillating color. Biscaino's early paintings strongly recalled his master's style, but his forms were softer, his brushstroke broader, and his choice
More on Getty ULAN- Date
- about 1655
- Medium
- Red chalk with white gouache heightening, on tan paper
- Culture
- Italian
- Department
- Drawings
- Institution
- Getty Museum
The young Saint Catherine, one of the most popular medieval saints, bends forward from the left to receive a wedding ring from the Christ child, who nearly twists off a bench in front of his mother Mary. Dating from the late Middle Ages, the story of Catherine's mystical marriage to Christ became a popular subject for both Italian and Northern European artists. Bartolomeo Biscaino displayed his animated draftsmanship in broad patches of light and shade, expressive gestures of faces and hands, and elaborate, flowing outlines. To give the composition even more immediacy, he cropped the figures on the left side. He added the shadows and contours in red chalk and freely applied thick, white gouache to create highlights. The range of tones from dark to light uses the paper's tan color as the middle tone between the red and white.
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