The mystical marriage of Saint Catherine of Alexandria

Francesco di Cristofano called Franciabigio

(Florence 1484 - 1525)

First documented in connection with the Borghese Collection in the 19th century, this painting has been ascribed by critics to the Florentine painter Francesco di Cristofano, known as Franciabigio. The artist was particularly influenced by Andrea del Sarto, with whom he worked closely together. In this case, though, he shows a certain stylistic independence, evident mainly in the simplification of the composition.

The work depicts the mystical marriage of St Catherine of Alexandria, portrayed here while she receives the ring from the Christ Child, in the presence of the Virgin. Next to her are the breaking wheel and a palm branch, symbols of her martyrdom.

Object details

Commentary

The earliest documented reference to this panel is dated to 1833, when it was listed in the Borghese collection as Madonna and Child from the school of Raphael. This attribution, which was subsequently reiterated by Giovanni Piancastelli (1891), was re-evaluated by Léon Gauchez in 1892, who proposed the name of Giuliano Bugiardini.

The attribution of the work to Bugiardini gained support from prominent art historians, including Adolfo Venturi (1893) and Bernard Berenson (1909). However, Giovanni Morelli (1890) suggested that the artist was Franciabigio. This opinion was subsequently shared by Roberto Longhi (1928) and later re-evaluated by Berenson himself in 1932, when he revised his earlier assessment.

In 1959, Paola Della Pergola confirmed the authorship of the panel to Franciabigio, though she noted the presence of numerous components that were likely left unfinished. In particular, she drew parallels between the Marriage of the Virgin and the Madonna and Child attributed to Fra Bartolommeo, which is held in Vienna (Kunsthistorisches Museum, inv. Gemäldegalerie 195). The compositions of both artworks exhibit numerous similarities such as the green curtain in the background, the facial features of the Virgin, and the pronounced tonalities of the colour palette. According to Fiorella Sricchia Santoro (1963), these characteristics clearly reveal the influence of Andrea del Sarto’s painting. Franciabigio’s reinterpretation of Sarto’s style is distinctly personal and somewhat simplified, as evidenced by the small pavilion situated behind the Virgin and the mantle of Saint Catherine of Alexandria. In the Borghese work, these elements serve a purely ornamental function. The reduced complexity, possibly a result of the painting having remained unfinished, was also noted by Susan McKillop (1974).

The painting displays a personal and distinctive style characteristic of Franciabigio, described by Anna Forlani Tempesti (in Il primato del disegno, 1980) as a “harsher and more natural form of Sarto-like painting” (sartismo asprigno e più naturale). This style is also evident in some of the artist’s works from the 1520s, such as the Youthful Head in Turin (Biblioteca Reale, inv. 15777), which Forlani Tempesti herself attributed to Franciabigio and stylistically linked to the present painting.

Antonio Iommelli