Mystical Marriage of St Catherine,

The Venetian painter Lorenzo Lotto developed an idiosyncratic, imaginative pictorial language and sought unconventional iconographic solutions. This early work shows the mystical marriage of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, a subject for devotion particularly popular among young women. According to legend, the saint sought advice from a wise hermit while on the lookout for a suitable husband who could equal her status, wealth, and intellect. The hermit presented her with a picture of the Virgin and Child and suggested that she take Christ as her spouse. In a dream, the Christ Child thereupon placed a ring on Catherine’s finger as a sign of the mystical marriage. Lotto’s asymmetric composition with the cloth of honor opening onto a fiery evening sky further emphasises the scene’s visionary character.