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Notes

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This elegant blonde woman with a jewelled crown and a martyr’s palm is Saint Catherine of Alexandria. She rests her left hand on the edge of the spiked wheel, just visible in the corner – she was tortured on one, and it became her attribute (a symbol traditionally associated with her).

The strange object in her right hand is a girdle book. Girdle books had bindings with long leather tails, allowing them to be attached to their user’s belt, though in this picture the tail is draped over Catherine’s hand.

The painting comes from the upper level of a large polyptych (multi-panelled altarpiece) painted by Giorgio Schiavone for the church of San Niccolò in Padua. Other panels from the altarpiece are also in our collection. We are not sure of their original order, but Catherine must have been on the left, looking inwards.