The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 23, 2024

St. Catherine of Siena and the Beggar

St. Catherine of Siena and the Beggar

1460s
(Italian, c. 1403–1482)
Framed: 35.6 x 35.7 x 4.5 cm (14 x 14 1/16 x 1 3/4 in.); Unframed: 28.7 x 28.9 cm (11 5/16 x 11 3/8 in.)

Did You Know?

Giovanni di Paolo painted both large altarpieces and small manuscripts.

Description

Saint Catherine (1347-1380) was the daughter of a prosperous Sienese cloth dyer. At the age of six, she saw a vision of Christ and thereafter dedicated herself to chastity, penance, and good works. She became much beloved in Siena for selflessly caring for victims of the Black Death. This panel, with 1966.2, was once part of a predella (or pedestal) of a large altarpiece painted for the Hospital Church of Siena. The main scene of this altarpiece, showing the Presentation of Christ in the Temple (now preserved in Siena) was ordered by the Pork Butchers Guild (the Pizzicaiuoli) in 1447. The predella was added later when Catherine was canonized in 1461. In the first panel, she kneels before an altar and reaches up to choose from the monastic garments offered by Saints Dominic, Augustine, and Francis, all founders of religious orders. Catherine takes the habit of Saint Dominic, which she wore as the founder of the Sisters of Penance. The second panel shows, at the right, Saint Catherine giving her cloak to a beggar. The beggar was really Christ in disguise, and at the left returns the cloak to her. For this act of charity, the cloak perpetually protected its wearer from the cold.
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    Johann Anton Ramboux, Cologne (bought in Siena, c. 1838, Cologne sale 1867).
    Hohenzollern family, Sigmaringen (sold 1920).
    Adolphe Stoclet, Brussels (1921, sold 1966).
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    1966-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
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    Stechow, Wolfgang. "Cleveland's Golden Anniversary Acquisitions." Artnews 65, no. 5 (September 1966): 30-64. Mentioned: p. 34; Reproduced: p. 37
    De Fernandez-Gimenez, Elizabeth Ourusoff. "Giovanni Di Paolo: The Life of St. Catherine of Siena." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 54, no. 4 (1967). pp. 103-10 www.jstor.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 59 archive.org
    Cleveland Museum of Art, Louise d' Argencourt, and Roger Diederen. Catalogue of Paintings. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1974. pp. 104-110
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 67 archive.org
    Christiansen, Keith, Laurence B. Kanter, and Carl Brandon Strehlke. Painting in Renaissance Siena, 1420-1500. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1988. pp. 224-228
    Boskovits, Miklós, Serena Padovani, and Irene Martin. Early Italian Painting: 1290-1470. London: Published by Philip Wilson Publishers for Sotheby's Publications, 1990. pp. 104-112
    Freuler, Gaudenz. "Künder der wunderbaren Dinge": frühe italienische Malerei aus Sammlungen in der Schweiz und in Liechtenstein. Lugano-Castagnola: Fondazione Thyssen-Bornemisza, 1991. p. 96
    Krischel, Roland, Susanne Blöcker, Frank Günter Zehnder, and Hiltrud Kier. Lust und Verlust: Kolner Sammler zwischen Trikolore und Preussenadler. Koln: Wienand, 1995. p. CXII-III
    Warr, Cordelia. "Clothing, Charity, Salvatio and Visionary Experience in Fifteenth-Century Siena." Art History: Journal of the Association of Art Historians. 27:2, April 2004 Fig. 1.1, p. 188
    Raymond, and Josef Schwarzbauer. 33 Jahre für Christus: die Legenda Maior ; das Leben der hl. Caterina von Siena. Kleinhain: Verlag St. Josef, 2006. p. 97
    Genovese, Valeria E. "Postille messinesi: il golgota di Gualtieri Sicamino e il dono per Polidoro da Caravaggio." In Annali della Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa: Classe di Lettere e Filosofia. Serie 5. Pisa: Edizioni Della Normale., 2011 Pg 616, fig 25
    Genovese, Veleria E. "Postille Messinesi: Il Golgota di Gualtieri Sicamino e il dono per Polidoro da Caravaggio" Annali della Scuola normale superiore di Pisa, Classe di lettere e filosofia. Pisa: La Scuola, (Serie 5 2011, 3/2) p. 616
    Kennedy, Trinita, Donal Cooper, Holly Flora, Trinita Kennedy, Amy Neff, and Janet Robson. Sanctity Pictured: The Art of the Dominican and Franciscan Orders in Renaissance Italy. 2014. cat. no. 42b, p. 186
    Dwyer Modestini, Dianne, and Mario Modestini. Masterpieces: Based on a Manuscript by Mario Modestini. Fiesole (Firenze) : Cadmo, 2018. Mentioned: p. 323-324
  • Sanctity Pictured: The Art of the Dominican and Franciscan Orders in Renaissance Italy. Frist Art Museum, Nashville, TN (organizer) (October 31, 2014-January 25, 2015).
    Lust und Verlust: Kölner Sammler zwischen Trikolore und Preussenadler (Joy and Loss: Cologne Collectors between the tricolore and the Prussian eagle). Josef Haubrich Kunsthalle (October 24, 1995-January 14, 1996).
  • {{cite web|title=St. Catherine of Siena and the Beggar|url=false|author=Giovanni di Paolo|year=1460s|access-date=23 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

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