Self Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria

Image credit: The National Gallery, London

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Notes

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Artemisia Gentileschi, the most celebrated female artist of the seventeenth century, appears in the guise of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, a Christian saint martyred in the early fourth century. She leans on a broken wheel studded with iron spikes, to which she was bound and tortured, and which became her standard attribute in art. Her right hand, delicately holding a martyr’s palm between thumb and forefinger, is brought to her chest. The saint is portrayed as resilient, having endured torture – as indeed the artist herself did during the trial following her rape at the age of 17 by the painter Agostino Tassi. After the trial Artemisia moved from Rome to Florence, where this painting was probably made. She seems to have used her own image frequently in works she produced in Florence – a number of self portraits are known and others are recorded in seventeenth-century inventories.

The National Gallery, London

London

Title

Self Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria

Date

c.1615–1617

Medium

oil on canvas

Measurements

H 71.5 x W 71 cm

Accession number

NG6671

Acquisition method

purchased with the support of the American Friends of the National Gallery, the National Gallery Trust, the Art Fund (through the legacy of Sir Denis Mahon), Lord and Lady Sassoon, Lady Getty, Hannah Rothschild, CBE, and other donors including those who wish to remain anonymous, 2018

Work type

Painting

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