Saint Catherine of Alexandria

The figure of Saint Catherine of Alexandria was very popular with neo-Hispanic painters. She is portrayed as a convert and held up as a true example of Christian chasteness and fidelity, because her religious faith and convictions were stronger than the calamities and suffering that she underwent at her martyrdom. At the same time, this saint is associated with the liberal arts and with technology, due to her acknowledged intellectual interests, which is why the Cloister of the Royal and Pontifical University adopted her as its patron saint in 1568. Saint Catherine was the daughter of King Costos of Cyprus. The painter depicts her with finery befitting her lineage. The pink cape with trimmings, the blue tunic with highlighted fringes, and the golden crown are also features used by the artist to achieve an intentionally theatrical effect. Other symbolic elements pertaining to the saint are the palm frond that she is holding in her right hand, symbolizing her triumph over the torments to which she was subjected before being executed, and the sword used to behead her, which she holds in one hand. In the lower right-hand corner, at Catherine’s feet, is a section of the barbed wheel with which the saint is most closely identified, and which, tradition has it, was destroyed by an intervening angel. Correa paints her full-body and with all her symbolic attributes, since, in New Spain, there was a tendency to line the naves of churches and the cloisters of convents with sets of saints' portraits. This painting entered the MUNAL as part of the latter's founding endowment in 1982.