Saint Catherine of Alexandria

In the first half of the eighteenth century, Neapolitan painting enjoyed a period of extraordinary intensity. Together with artists already working in Naples, others adopted the style and elegance of colour, com-bined with a form of naturalism derived from Caravaggio, and helped spread it throughout Italy. The Saint Catherine is attributed to Bartolomeo Bassante, a Neapolitan painter who was a pupil of Ribera. He was attracted by classicist models which led him to mitigate the robust naturalism of his master and to adopt sharper profiles and smoother skin tones. The soft hair lit by reflections of sunlight, the silk ap-parel, and the beautifully modelled white hand holding the sword all emphasise the dramatic destiny facing the young saint, in a careful balance of classicism and naturalism.