Saint. Catherine of Alexandria

Image of St. Catherine of Alexandria was originally a part of the monumental triptych from the Krakow church of Paulins on Skałka. Saint Catherine in Kulmbach's painting is a young girl with a plump face in a rich elegant dress with a crown and a double string of pearls on light, loose hair.
According to legend, the beautiful and wise Catherine was the Alexandrian princess who began a discussion with 50 philosophers and converted everyone to Christian faith.
She did not want to renounce her beliefs and rejected the love of the pagan Emperor Maxentius, who sentenced her to martyrdom by breaking the wheel.
However, when the angel's intervention prevented this order, she was beheaded with the sword. The sword and wheel have become the attributes of this saint, but they are invisible in the Krakow painting because they were probably in the lower part of the painting, which was cut off.
After removing the altar from the church, individual parts of the triptych were dispersed. Picture from Saint. Catherine was destroyed and therefore cut into an oval.