Cosimo Rosselli

Saint Catherine of Siena as Spiritual Mother of the Second and Third Orders of Saint Dominic

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About this artwork

St Catherine, enthroned, wears the black and white robes of the Dominican Order. The white lilies symbolise her purity and the fact she flattens the devil underfoot signals her goodness. St Lawrence and St Dominic are on the left and St Peter Martyr and St Raphael, with the young Tobias, to the right. St Catherine of Siena was the first Dominican nun and here she presents a book of the Dominican Rule to one kneeling group of figures and a scroll of regulations to another. The altarpiece may have been painted for St Catherine's convent, Florence, where three of Cosimo Rosselli's nieces were nuns.

Updated before 2020

  • artist:
    Cosimo Rosselli (1439 - 1507) Italian
  • title:
    Saint Catherine of Siena as Spiritual Mother of the Second and Third Orders of Saint Dominic
  • date created:
    About 1499 - 1500
  • materials:
    Tempera and gold on panel
  • measurements:
    Image: 157.70 x 163.50 cm; Panel: 170.00 x 171.50 cm
  • object type:
  • credit line:
    Purchased 1911
  • accession number:
    NG 1030
  • gallery:
  • depicted:
  • subject:
  • artwork photographed by:
    Antonia Reeve
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Cosimo Rosselli

Cosimo Rosselli