On Angels’ Wings

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Lifted by angels, a beautiful woman—so serene she appears to be in a deep sleep—is transported through the air. One angel cradles her crowned head, another her arm, and two others her legs and feet. A fifth angel, bearing a cross, wreath of flowers, sword and spiked instrument, flies slightly ahead of the others. Their garments and fair locks ripple in the wind. The color of the sky hints that it is dawn—or dusk.

Upon learning that the identity of the painting’s subject is St. Catherine of Alexandria, one recognizes that she is not asleep; she is dead. According to traditional accounts, St. Catherine of Alexandria was a Christian saint—a beautiful noblewoman, scholar, famed rhetorician and, by some accounts, even a princess—who was beheaded by Emperor Maxentius in 305 A.D. The sword carried by the angel is the instrument of her martyrdom, just as the spiked instrument is a fragment of the spiked wheel upon which she was tortured before her death.

Christine Walsh, author of The Cult of St. Katherine of Alexandria in Early Medieval Europe, explains that even though there is a fixed date associated with her martyrdom, this does not mean that Catherine of Alexandria was actually martyred—or even that she was a historical person: “In several of the earliest surviving Greek texts Katherine’s martyrdom is stated to have occurred in 305. However, there is no evidence for Katherine before the seventh century, and the date seems to be a detail inserted to give the appearance of historical accuracy.” While it is debated whether or not Catherine of Alexandria ever existed, her cult became very popular in medieval Europe, and Catherine’s Passio—the tale of her martyrdom—was written by at least the eighth century.

In his painting The Miraculous Translation of the Body of Saint Catherine of Alexandria to Sinai (1860), Carl von Blaas captures the moment after her martyrdom in Alexandria, Egypt, when she is miraculously transported by angels to Jebel Katarina, next to Jebel Musa which became the traditional site of Mt. Sinai. (BAR readers will recognize that this likely is not the location of the actual Mt. Sinai.^a) After St. Catherine’s relics, housed in a chapel on Jebel Katarina, grew in fame for their reported healing powers, monks at Musa relocated her remains to Jebel Musa in the 12th century and rededicated the sixth-century monastery built by Justinian to St. Catherine, as it is still known today.

Nineteenth-century Austrian painter Carl von Blaas uses abundant detail and vivid colors to bring the scene to life. Inspired by early Renaissance artists, his style is similar to that of the Pre-Raphaelites—a group of English artists who wished to reform art by rejecting what they considered mannered and academic painting made popular by Raphael and Michelangelo and returning to works rich in color, detail and complex compositions.

Beginning November 16, 2014, this piece will be on display in the gallery “The Pre-Raphaelites and Their Legacy in the 19th Century” in the newly renovated and expanded Harvard Art Museums facility. The Miraculous Translation of the Body of Saint Catherine of Alexandria to Sinai is part of the museums’ permanent collection.

The galleries of Harvard’s Fogg, Busch-Reisinger and Arthur M. Sackler museums were closed last year for renovation. The new facility will unite the three museums under a single roof.

Lifted by angels, a beautiful woman—so serene she appears to be in a deep sleep—is transported through the air. One angel cradles her crowned head, another her arm, and two others her legs and feet. A fifth angel, bearing a cross, wreath of flowers, sword and spiked instrument, flies slightly ahead of the others. Their garments and fair locks ripple in the wind. The color of the sky hints that it is dawn—or dusk. Upon learning that the identity of the painting’s subject is St. Catherine of Alexandria, one recognizes that she is not asleep; she is dead. According […]