Jacopo Robusti, called Jacopo Tintoretto and Studio VENICE 1518 - 1594 THE ANGEL FORETELLING SAINT CATHERINE OF ALEXANDRIA OF HER MARTYRDOM oil on canvas with an arched top, relined as a rectangle 177.1 by 99.3cm.; 69¾ by 39¼in.

Saint Catherine of Alexandria, a virtuous virgin queen, was condemned to death on a spiked wheel by the Emperor Maxentius when he failed to undermine her Christian faith. She escaped when a thunderbolt destroyed the wheel before any harm could befall her, though she was later beheaded. Here, through powerful and eloquent gesture, an angel warns Catherine of her impending fate, recalling the more familiar iconography of the Annunciation. This painting was produced in the later 1570s, when Jacopo Tintoretto was directing the busiest painter’s workshop in Venice. Consistent with this practice was the delegation of certain elements of the composition to the studio, including here the architectural setting, row of background figures, and much of the sky. Jacopo himself, however, most probably sketched in the foreground protagonists and completed some key passages in these figures, leaving other areas for his assistants to finish. The work of the master is particularly evident in the deft and confident handling of the angel’s head in profile, the anatomy of his muscular shoulders and arms (which Jacopo first painted nude before covering with an additional layer), and Catherine’s answering gesture, with its skilful foreshortening of her left arm and hand holding the Crucifix. The altarpiece was commissioned by members of the Scuola di Santa Caterina for the Church of San Geminiano in the heart of Venice. Facing the Basilica in the Piazza San Marco, the small but elaborately decorated church was designed by Jacopo Sansovino and also held his tomb, along with an altarpiece by Giovanni Bellini and organ shutters by Paolo Veronese. A pen drawing of the present composition by Sir Anthony Van Dyck (Chatsworth House, Derbyshire), executed on his visit to Venice in 1622, speaks of his admiration for Jacopo’s painting. Displayed in situ until 1807, when the church was destroyed under Napoleon to make way for the new wing of the Procuratie, the canvas was transferred to the Accademia before being acquired by the art dealer Angelo Barbini, along with paintings by Titian, Paris Bordone and Veronese.

Commissioned by the Scuola di Santa Caterina for the altar of the Church of San Geminiano, Piazza di San Marco, Venice Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice, after the destruction of San Geminiano in 1807 From whom acquired by Angelo Barbini, Venice, 1818, in exchange for Bartolomeo Schedoni's Deposition Colonel T.H. Davies By descent to Lieutenant Colonel H.R. Davies, Elmley Castle, Pershore, Worcestershire By whom sold, London, Christie's, 26 July 1957, lot 148 to Betts for £1100 Ernest Joresco, Chicago, by 1959 Anonymous sale, New York, Christie’s, 18 January 1983, lot 169 (as Jacopo Robusti, il Tintoretto)