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Lot Essay
This beautifully carved figure of Saint Catherine is a product of two closely related schools - from northeastern Netherlands and the northwest of Germany - during the transitional phase from the late gothic to the renaissance. Saint Catherine, of royal birth, wears a crown, and holds a book in her left hand, a sign of her great erudition. It is likely that in her missing right hand she held a sword, the instrument of her martyrdom.
In the facial type, the Saint Catherine is related to the work of slightly earlier artists such as the so-called Master Arnt, who was active in the Cleves-Guelders region of the Netherlands in the late 15th century. If one compares the present figure to the Virgin in an Anna Selbdritt group attributed to Arnt (sold Christie's Paris, 4 March 2008, lot 227) one finds the same high, domed forehead, the rounded upper eyelids and the delicate mouth and chin. The carefully articulated hands are also extremely close. However, the drapery style of the present figure is quite different from the angular patterns evident in the Netherlandish school. The cloak and skirt of the Saint Catherine are more distinctly German in their treatment, with their crinkled texture and the edges which lift up as though caught in a sudden updraft. These are characteristics which can be found in the work of the Master of Osnabruck, to whose workshop Hans-Joachim Manske attributed the present figure in his monograph on the artist (Manske, loc. cit.).
In the facial type, the Saint Catherine is related to the work of slightly earlier artists such as the so-called Master Arnt, who was active in the Cleves-Guelders region of the Netherlands in the late 15th century. If one compares the present figure to the Virgin in an Anna Selbdritt group attributed to Arnt (sold Christie's Paris, 4 March 2008, lot 227) one finds the same high, domed forehead, the rounded upper eyelids and the delicate mouth and chin. The carefully articulated hands are also extremely close. However, the drapery style of the present figure is quite different from the angular patterns evident in the Netherlandish school. The cloak and skirt of the Saint Catherine are more distinctly German in their treatment, with their crinkled texture and the edges which lift up as though caught in a sudden updraft. These are characteristics which can be found in the work of the Master of Osnabruck, to whose workshop Hans-Joachim Manske attributed the present figure in his monograph on the artist (Manske, loc. cit.).