The Dream of Saint Catherine of Alexandria
| Support Type: | Canvas |
| Paint Type: | Oil Paint |
| Current Location: | National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. |
| Location History: | Painted by Ludovico Carracci c. 1593. Then later it entered the Samuel H. Kress Collection (a major American collecting effort that channelled numerous Old Master paintings into U.S. museums in the mid-20th century). After that it was acquired by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., via the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, as documented in the Gallery's 1951 and 1959 published catalogues of the Kress Collection. It has remained part of the National Gallery of Art's permanent collection since that acquisition and continues to be catalogued and exhibited there. |
The Dream of Saint Catherine of Alexandria is a painting by Ludovico Carracci that shows the mystical vision of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, a Christian martyr who was tortured and beheaded for her faith. We know that the sleeping figure is Catherine because of the broken piece of a spiked wheel shown in the lower left corner, which was the instrument used in her attempted martyrdom, and it is partly covered by yellow drapery. In her dream, Mary and the infant Christ appear to her along with angels, and Christ places a ring on her finger. Through this, she becomes his bride in what is known as her "Mystic Marriage." What is interesting here is that Ludovico chose to show this whole event happening within a dream, rather than showing Catherine receiving the ring while awake, which was the usual way this story was painted before. This was his own personal innovation to the traditional way this subject was depicted. Behind Catherine and beside Mary are two winged angels with dark blond, curly hair. One of them rests a hand on the pillow behind Catherine's head and turns to look past Mary with her lips slightly parted, while the other looks down with her hands folded together in prayer. If you look closely at the upper right corner behind Mary, it is filled with red clouds that actually contain faces. On the left, two angels watch over Catherine with a kind of protective tenderness, while more angels barely appear through a hazy, glow on the right side, almost like spirit slowly turning into matter. All the figures feel placed in a setting that doesn't feel like any particular real place, and there's a warm, slow, dreamy mood that spreads across the whole painting. At the same time, the folds and pleats of Catherine's clothing fall in a strange, swirling way that gives a slightly dizzying feeling, almost like the disorientation you feel when you're deep in sleep.