Saint Catherine, Carried up to Heaven by Angels

After initially following the Mannerist style, Baglione temporarily succumbed to the spectacular perspective of one Michelangelo Merisi, known as Caravaggio, before finally finding his own individual style. It was with this that the artist sought to extend the common conception of art to include elements of Mannerism as well as a Caravaggist realism. This is why this highly finished drawing includes numerous figures, while the central figure of the saint has an animated, sculptural quality. The compositional drawing was a study for a painting now on display at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art in California. It shows the rarely depicted ascension of Saint Catherine, carried by angels, on Mount Sinai, as described in the Golden Legend. (Sonja Brink)