Peter Paul Rubens
Flemish, 1577–1640

Rubens painted this magnificent painting as an altarpiece for the Church of the Augustinians in Mechelen (Malines), modern Belgium. Rubens’s painting focuses on a vision experienced by Saint Catherine of Alexandria. She saw the infant Christ on his mother Mary’s lap offering himself as Catherine’s spiritual bridegroom. Traditionally represented by Christ placing a ring on Catherine’s finger, Rubens creates his own version: Christ crowning Catherine with laurel to symbolize her purity and victory over the forces of evil.

The three saints surrounding the enthroned Madonna were, according to tradition, all tortured and killed in the early centuries of Christianity for refusing to renounce their faith. Apollonia on the left holds the pincers used to pull her teeth. Margaret holds the leash of the dragon that swallowed her. Catherine kneels, contemplating the palm tree branch, emblem of martyrs,   while above her a cherub clutches the lightning bolts that destroyed the spiked wheels used to torture her.

Oil on canvas, 1631 (1633?)
Purchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey, 1950.272