Saint Catherine of Alexandria and Saint Apollonia

This panel was part of a polyptych, now lost, possibly from Vercelli Cathedral. A work of great elegance and of great delicacy and focus, it bears traces of Gaudenzio’s experience in Milan and especially the lessons he learned from Leonardo and Bramantino. The sweeping composition, with the figures foreshortened from below and the ample folds of the mantles, is consistent with the mature works of this great exponent of the Italian Renaissance, who was experimenting his own personal blend of compositional balance and spontaneity in the gestures and affections he portrayed.