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Holy Family with the Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
The marriage shown in this painting is called “mystic” because it was a purely symbolic. The infant Jesus places a ring on the finger of Catherine of Alexandria, a fourth-century saint who had a vision of dedicating herself to God and remaining a virgin instead of marrying. Note the otherworldly quality of the women and children’s elegant faces, compared to the naturalism of elderly Saint Joseph, who may be a likeness of someone the artist knew.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineHoly Family with the Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine, c. 1560. Tommaso d’Antonio Manzuoli, called Maso da San Friano (Italian, 1531–1571). Oil on panel; image: 148 x 103 cm (58 1/4 x 40 9/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund, 2019.168
