St.Catherina

“St. Catherine” is a typical church sculpture – the front is richly worked but the rear is left smooth. In the upper part of the body of the sculpture there is a hook for hanging on the wall. The small wooden base with cut off corners is also typical of wall-hung sculptures. The slender torso forms an S shape, characteristic of late Gothic statues. The artist has observed the medieval tradition of paying the greatest attention to spiritual aspects at the expense of an accurate portrayal of the physical human body which was seen to be sinful. The spirituality of the image is accentuated by fine and highly original facial features and the angle of the head. The gaze of the saint is turned to an open book that she holds in her left hand. In the visual arts, open or closed books have a symbolic meaning; they also appear as attributes of the evangelists, disciples and church patriarchs.