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Saint Catherine Disputing with the Philosophers

A work made of pen and brown ink, with brush and brown wash, heightened with white gouache, over black chalk, on cream laid paper, pieced.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A work made of pen and brown ink, with brush and brown wash, heightened with white gouache, over black chalk, on cream laid paper, pieced.

Date:

1562/63

Artist:

Livio Agresti
Italian, 1508–1579

About this artwork

This highly finished sheet is a compositional proposal, or modello, for the high altar of Santa Caterina dei Funari in Rome. Commissioned by Cardinal Federico Cesi for the left wall of the sanctuary, the painting was begun by Agresti in 1562/63 but finished by Federico Zuccaro in 1571/72. The subject is a conflation of two scenes taken from the Golden Legend of Jacobus de Voragine. Above, Catherine asserts the tenets of Christianity before the Emperor Maxentius and 50 pagan orators assembled to argue against her; below, she is attended by an angel after the orators were converted and Maxentius had her imprisoned as punishment.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Prints and Drawings

Artist

Livio Agresti

Title

Saint Catherine Disputing with the Philosophers

Place

Italy (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1562–1563

Medium

Pen and brown ink, with brush and brown wash, heightened with white gouache, over black chalk, on cream laid paper, pieced

Dimensions

Sight: 50.5 × 39.5 cm (19 15/16 × 15 9/16 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of John A. Bross in memory of Louise Smith Bross

Reference Number

2014.1140

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/223800/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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