Loading

Saint Catherine of Alexandria at the Wheel

Niccolò dell'Abbate1547–1550

The J. Paul Getty Museum

The J. Paul Getty Museum
Los Angeles, United States

The legendary Saint Catherine of Alexandria gracefully thanks God the Father and his angels for rescuing her from torture on a spiked wheel. The soldiers of the emperor Maxentius had attempted to break this faithful Christian on the wheel because of her public protest against the worship of idols, but the wheel fell to pieces and she was unhurt. Flying splinters were said to have killed some spectators.

In this large drawing, Nicolò dell'Abate integrated two complex sets of figures against a characteristically picturesque and elaborate landscape background. In the Mannerist style, he moved the action in both heavenly and earthly realms to the front of the picture. Arranging assorted figures in a variety of exaggerated positions along an agitated line at the bottom, Nicolò added humor by featuring a splinter-filled spectator's backside at the right. He derived the upper group of figures--God looming in profile and the repetitive angels receding in a diagonal underneath a cloud formation--from a ceiling fresco by Pordenone.

Show lessRead more
  • Title: Saint Catherine of Alexandria at the Wheel
  • Creator: Nicolò dell'Abate
  • Date Created: 1547–1550
  • Physical Dimensions: 55.7 × 42.1 cm (21 15/16 × 16 9/16 in.)
  • Type: Drawing
  • External Link: Find out more about this object on the Museum website.
  • Medium: Black chalk, brush and brown ink, with white gouache heightening on tan paper, irregularly shaped
  • Terms of Use: Open Content
  • Number: 84.GG.650
  • Culture: Italian
  • Credit Line: The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
  • Creator Display Name: Nicolò dell'Abate (Italian, 1509/1512 - 1571)
  • Classification: Drawings (Visual Works)
The J. Paul Getty Museum

Get the app

Explore museums and play with Art Transfer, Pocket Galleries, Art Selfie, and more

Interested in Visual arts?

Get updates with your personalized Culture Weekly

You are all set!

Your first Culture Weekly will arrive this week.

Home
Discover
Play
Nearby
Favorites