The Mystic Marriage of St Catherine

Paolo Veronese (Paolo Caliari) (in circa 1570-1580)

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Specifications

Title	The Mystic Marriage of St Catherine
Material and technique	Black chalk, brown wash, heightened with white (partially oxidized), on blue paper
Object type	Drawing > Two-dimensional object > Art object
Location	This object is in storage

Dimensions	Height 297 mm Width 200 mm
Artists	Workshop of: Paolo Veronese (Paolo Caliari)
Accession number	I 92 (PK)
Credits	Loan Stichting Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen (former Koenigs collection), 1940
Department	Drawings & Prints
Acquisition date	1940
Creation date	in circa 1570-1580
Watermark	Standing angel surmounted by a six-pointed star (c. 65 x 26 mm, on P5 of 7P, right of centre, vV, trimmed folio), somewhat similar to Briquet 636 (without countermark; Vicenza 1572, Salo 1578)
Inscriptions	'3i' (verso, centre, pen and brown ink), 'Paulo V: no:21-' (on the removed backing paper, pen and brown ink)
Collector	Collector / Franz Koenigs
Mark	Z. Sagredo (L.2103a) inv. P. no: 21, F.W. Koenigs (L.1023a on removed backing paper)
Provenance	Zaccaria Sagredo (1653-1729, L.2103a, inv. 'P. no: 21'), Venicë; - ; Franz W. Koenigs (1881-1941, L.1023a), Haarlem, acquired in 1927 (Paolo Veronese); D.G. van Beuningen (1877-1955), Rotterdam, acquired with the Koenigs Collection in 1940 and donated to Stichting Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen
Research	Show research Italian Drawings 1400-1600
Literature	Tietze/Tietze-Conrat 1944, no. 2169 (Veronese heirs, too poor to be by Veronese himself); Cocke 1984, no. 162 (workshop; Carletto Caliari)
Material	Brown ink > Ink > Artist's material > Material > Material and technique Paintbrush > Artist's material > Material > Material and technique Blue paper > Coloured paper > Paper > Vegetable material > Organic material > Material > Material and technique Black chalk > Chalk > Artist's material > Material > Material and technique Pen > Artist's material > Material > Material and technique
Object	Drawing > Two-dimensional object > Art object
Technique	Highlight > Painting technique > Technique > Material and technique Brown wash > Washing > Wash > Drawing technique > Technique > Material and technique
Geographical origin	Italy > Southern Europe > Europe
Place of manufacture	Venice > Veneto region > Italy > Southern Europe > Europe

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Entry catalogue Italian Drawings 1400-1600

Author: Sarah Vowles

The Mystic Marriage of St Catherine was one of the favourite subjects of Paolo Veronese (1528-1588) and several paintings of the theme survive, none of which corresponds exactly to this drawing. Although the sheet is faded and disfigured by discolouration to the white highlights, it was probably of modest quality even in its original state. It cannot be by Veronese himself; nor does it seem likely to be by his gifted son Carlo Caliari (1570-1596). In the absence of any evidence for attribution to a particular hand, a generic attribution to the studio seems to be wisest.

Drawings of this type in pen were commonly made within the studio as ricordi of completed paintings.^[1] However, this composition seems to juxtapose elements borrowed from several of Veronese’s paintings of the subject, rather than reflecting a single picture. The angel with the cello or viola da gamba on the left seems to derive from Veronese’s The Mystic Marriage of St Catherine now in Detroit,^[2]while the kneeling St Catherine, who places her hand below her breast and leans forward, is closer to that in The Mystic Marriage in Venice.^[3]It may be a pupil’s exercise in composition, borrowing aspects from various paintings by his master, which would have been preserved either in drawn ricordi or in the extensive archives of preparatory drawings maintained by the Caliari workshop.

Footnotes

^[1]See I 408 for an example.

^[2]Detroit Institute of Arts, inv. 44.265.

^[3]Gallerie dell’Accademia, inv. 1324.

Show research Italian Drawings 1400-1600

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Paolo Veronese (Paolo Caliari)

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