Ancient painting, Oil on panel, Mystical Marriage of Saint Catherine, 16th centu

17th century, Roman School Mystical marriage of Saint Catherine of Alexandria Oil on canvas, 32 x 23 cm Frame cm 45 x 36 The saint is depicted in front of the Virgin holding the Child portrayed with the wedding ring in his hand, enriched with a precious stone. According to the Golden Legend, Catherine of Alexandria was a very beautiful young woman, the only daughter of the king of Costa, who had refused to marry the emperor Maxentius because she was a Christian and devoted to Christ. Maxentius, unable to convince her to sacrifice to idols, had sent to call the wisest men and fifty philosophers and orators who presented themselves and tried to divert her from faith in Christ. Catherine, however, played so well that she was able to convert them, arousing the anger of the emperor who condemned them to the stake. Catherine, however, who had criticized Maxentius for the new persecutions against the Christians, was sentenced to prison without food. Abandoned for twelve days, she was fed by a dove sent by God. Maxentius then decided to execute her with the torture of the toothed wheel become her attribute iconographic; but by divine intervention this broke and the young was saved. Finally, she was beheaded and milk flowed from her neck. Catherine’s princely status is witnessed here by her sumptuous dress. The iconography of the mystical marriage was born in the fifteenth century, probably because the traditional iconographic attribute, the wheel, was sometimes so small as to look like a ring, and refers to a vision that will always remain present in the mind and heart of the saint. In Heaven she appeared to her, among the Angels and Saints, Christ the Child, in the arms of the Virgin. He took a precious ring that the Virgin Mary handed to her and put it in her finger, saying "I, your Creator and Saviour, take you in marriage; confident that you will keep you pure until you celebrate your eternal wedding with me, in Paradise" When Catherine was laughing, she found in her finger the same ring that she had seen and had in Heaven, and she considered herself forever the bride of Christ. In this extraordinary episode we can see the heart of Catherine’s religious sense, and of all her spirituality. For her, Christ is like the bridegroom, with whom there is a relationship of intimacy, communion and fidelity; he is the beloved, whom she loves above all...

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