Saint Catherine’s Body Carried by the Angels

Bernardino Luini

Download hi-res image TITLE Saint Catherine’s Body Carried by the Angels
AUTHOR Bernardino Luini
DATE c. 1514
OBJECT TYPE AND MATERIAL Fresco Transferred To Panel
DIMENSIONS cm 123 x 228
INVENTORY 50
ROOM X
Work on display

Gerolamo Rabia, an aristocrat fond of literature, the ancient world and architecture, commissioned Luini to decorate several rooms in Villa Pelucca, which still exists but is now an old people’s home. This fresco stood over the door of a chapel dedicated to St. Catherine. Much admired for its simple purity and beloved of English art critic John Ruskin in the 19th century, it depicts angels bearing the saint’s body from Alexandria to Mount Sinai after her martyrdom.