|
|
|
Virgin appearing to St. Luke and St. Catherine
Click on the picture to see an
enlarged version. 
|
The Renaissance had pioneered a kind of religious conversation scene, usually with the Blessed Mother and Christ Child in the middle, and attended by a number of saints standing in rigid poses. Carracci is one of the first to break this pattern, even while preserving the genre. In this picture, Mary and her child sit on a thrond in heaven and appear to two figures. They can be identified by their hagiographical symbols. The man is St. Luke, as seen by his quill pen (he was an author of one of the gospels) and a paint brush (an old legend says that he once painted a picture of Mary). The woman is St. Catherine of Alexandria, identified by the broken wheel, which was to have been the instrument of her death. |
|
|
|
|