Category:Catherine of Siena by Andrea Vanni

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  • http://www.viaesiena.it/en/mendicanti/itinerario_o/basilica-di-san-domenico/cappella-volte
  • https://inpress.lib.uiowa.edu/feminae/DetailsPage.aspx?Feminae_ID=28574
  • Catherine wears the white habit and black cloak of a Mantellata (Third Order Dominican) and holds a lily, the symbol of her purity. Her hands bear signs of the stigmata, which Catherine reportedly received on April 1, 1375. A young woman dressed in secular clothes, possibly the image donor, kneels at Catherine's feet and kisses her fingers. Diana Norman suggests that the donor is presented in a pose typical of widows (Siena, Florence, and Padua: Case Studies. Yale University Press, 1995. Page 264). Ingeborg Bähr identifies the donor as Giovanna Piccolomini who left a bequest for a chapel dedicated to Catherine. Because Catherine had not yet been canonized, Bähr suggests that a chaple was not deemed appropriate and this painting was substituted to meet the bequest (Das Katherinenfresko in San Domenico in Siena: eine Stiftung aus dem Schülerkreis der Heiligen? Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz XXVIII/3 (1984) 385-388).
  • This is a fresco that was originally on the adjoining wall, forming a corner with the church; it was detached and moved to its current location in 1667. This painting is exceptionally important because it was made when Catherine was still alive; thus it is rightly considered to be her ‘vera imago,’ a true portrait of her facial features. This is further confirmed by the fact that Andrea Vanni was a faithful disciple of the Saint, who wrote to him some of the letters that appear in her Epistolary. With this work, the artist wanted to express all his devotion to the woman he considered “mother and teacher.” In the fresco, Catherine appears in the white habit and black cloak of the 'mantellate'; she hold a lily, the symbol of purity, which over time would become her traditional iconographical attribute. Observing her hands, you will note that they bear the stigmata; this important detail enables us to establish with certainty that the painting was made after 1 April 1375, when Catherine received the stigmata in the church of Santa Cristina in Pisa. The young woman kneeling in an attitude of devotion is a disciple, a symbol of all Catherine’s spiritual children, yesterday as today, and of all those who want to know her life, works, and message of peace.

Media in category "Catherine of Siena by Andrea Vanni"

The following 8 files are in this category, out of 8 total.

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