Saint Catherine of Alexandria

Saint Catherine is identified by the instrument of her martyrdom, the broken wheel. The praying saint is depicted with an upward glance and her hands crossed on her chest. A secondary inscription: Massimo S, is found on the reverse of the canvas. However, it does not correspond with reality. The type of face, the narrow slice, the bright colors and particularly, the affinity to other works lead to the opinion that the artist was Pacecco, Francesco de Rosa.
 
Massimo Stanzione (1585–1656) was one of the main representatives of painting in Naples of the early Baroque period and employed a naturalist style; his student, Pacecco, frequently repeated his master’s compositions, but he selected brighter colors and a more translucent technique of applying the paints. This composition of St. Catherine is not mentioned in the known inventories and appears only in an auction catalogue from 1824.

Only attributed works currently prevail in his scarcely documented work. According to them it seems that towards the end of his career his work was nothing more than schematic repetition. However all the works are unified in style and demonstrate a distinctive bond.

The signed and dated altar painting Annunciation, which remains in its original location in the church of San Gregorio Armeno in Naples, was considered to be related to the painting from Bratislava, and based on this information, it can be anticipated that Pacecco created the painting of St. Catherine around 1640.

Zuzana Ludiková ● LUDIKOVÁ, Zuzana - BURAN, Dušan. Talianska maľba = Italian Painting. Bratislava : Slovenská národná galéria, 2013. 242 strán. ISBN 9788080591748.