Scenes from the Life of Saint Catherine of Alexandria
- 105
This window depicts the story of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, patron saint of scholars. Upon becoming a Christian, Catherine reprimanded the Roman Emperor Maximinus, who was persecuting Christians. Catherine, learned in the sciences, succeeded in supporting Christianity in debate with Maximinus and a number of his scholars, but she was unsuccessful at converting the Emperor. He commanded that Catherine be torn to pieces on a wheel, but the legend relates that the wheel was either broken by angels or fell apart upon Catherine’s touch. This scene is depicted in the lower roundel of the window, including the wheel at the prostrate Catherine’s feet. Maximinus was enraged and ordered Catherine to be beheaded, after which angels carried her body to Mount Sinai.
Purchased from Bayer by French and Company, New York, stock no. 17110, March 20, 1931-December 15, 1933;
Purchased from French and Company by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1933.
NOTES:
[1] Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, French and Company Stock Sheets, box 16, folder 4. According to the stock sheet for this object, French and Company acquired it from the collection of an Italian countess who had it for many years. The sheet also indicates the glass was bought from L. S. Bayer. This could be Laura Bayer (née Bache Keyser), whose mother, Henrietta (née Bache) and uncle Jules S. Bache collected French decorative arts. Laura Bayer married Count Antoine de Sala in 1933 and became Laura, Countess Sala.
