The Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine

1510/1515

Correggio

Artist, Parmese, 1489/1494 - 1534

Three women, two men, and a baby sit on or stand near a throne with a curved top in this vertical painting. All the people have light, peachy skin. A younger woman, Mary, holds a nude baby as she sits on the lap of a second woman, Saint Anne, on the throne. The edges of Saint Anne’s white habit are visible along her forehead and across her neck, and she wears a raspberry-pink robe covering her head, shoulders, and arms. She holds both hands out, with her right hand, to our left, palm down. She looks off to our left, and her lips are parted. On her lap, Mary’s blond hair is pulled back, and she wears a ruby-red dress under a lapis-blue robe. She looks down at the baby who sits on her right knee, to our left. The baby also has blond hair, and he reaches for the hand of a third woman kneeling next to him, to our left. That woman’s reddish-blond hair is pulled back, and she wears a golden yellow wrap over a spruce-green dress. A red cloth hangs down her back and pools over the back of her bent knees and legs. She looks down at her right hand as the baby holds the third finger. The two men stand to either side of the throne. Both have bald heads, each with a ring of hair, and they are cleanshaven. The one to our left stands just behind the kneeling woman, and wears a moss-green, hooded robe with loose sleeves. He holds one hand to his chest, and a faint wound is visible on the back of his palm. The man on the other side faces the throne in profile facing our left. He wears a black cape wrapped around a white robe. He holds a book in one hand and a long stem of white flowers in the other. The throne sits in front of a shadowed, rounded niche. It is lined with a garland dotted with fruit, possibly oranges and lemons. Behind Saint Anne’s head, a gold circle is held up by two winged angels. Along the base of the throne, an oval medallion sits against a design of scrolls and flowers. The medallion shows a person kneeling on a box and another with a sword raised. The throne sits on two steps. On the steps near the kneeling woman are a gold crown, a sword with a gold hilt, and a bit of a broken, wooden wheel.

Media Options

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On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 18

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on panel

  • Credit Line

    Samuel H. Kress Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 27.7 x 21.4 cm, 0.5 cm (10 7/8 x 8 7/16 in., 3/16 in.)
    overall (with added edge strips): 29 x 22.4 cm (11 7/16 x 8 13/16 in.)
    framed: 40.16 x 33.81 x 4.92 cm (15 13/16 x 13 5/16 x 1 15/16 in.)

  • Accession

    1939.1.83

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Count Giovanni Battista Costabili Containi I [d. 1841], Ferrara, Italia; by inheritance to his nephew, Count Giovanni Battista Costabili Containi II, Ferrara, until at least 1858. Dr. Gustavo Frizzoni [1840-1919], Milan, by 1877; by inheritance to Alberto Ginoulhiac, Milan, until at least 1930; Luigi Bonomi, Milan. (Count Alessandro Contini Bonacossi, Florence and Rome); sold March 1932 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[1] gift 1939 to NGA.
[1] The bill of sale for a number of paintings, including NGA 1939.1.83, is dated 4 March 1932; copy in NGA curatorial files; see also The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/2247.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1930

  • Exhibition of Italian Art: 1200-1900, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1930, no. 173 (no. 407 in commemorative catalogue published 1931; not in souvenir catalogue).

1935

  • Mostra del Correggio, Palazzo della Pilotta, Parma, 1935, no. 24, repro.

1979

  • Berenson and the Connoisseurship of Italian Painting, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1979, no. 79, repro.

1986

  • The Age of Correggio and the Carracci: Emilian Painting of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, Museo Civico, Bologna; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1986-1987, no. 25, color repro.

2008

  • Correggio, Galleria Nazionale, Parma, 2008-2009, no. II.19, repro.

2016

  • Correggio e Parmigianino: Arte a Parma nel Cinquecento [Correggio and Parmigianino: Art in Parma during the Sixteenth Century], Scuderie del Quirinale, Rome, 2016, no. 3, repro.

2019

  • Andrea Mantegna: Riviere l'antico, costruire il moderno, Palazzo Madama, Turin, 2019-2020, no. VI.8, repro.

Bibliography

1941

  • Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: 44, no. 194.

1942

  • Book of Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 243, repro. 87.

1944

  • Frankfurter, Alfred M. The Kress Collection in the National Gallery. New York, 1944: 57, repro.

1945

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1945 (reprinted 1947, 1949): 87, repro.

1959

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 102, repro.

1963

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 307, repro.

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 31.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 25, repro.

  • Shapley, Fern Rusk. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Italian Schools, XV-XVI Century. London, 1968: 82-83, fig. 204.

  • Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Central Italian and North Italian Schools. 3 vols. London, 1968: 1:93.

1972

  • Fredericksen, Burton B., and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, MA, 1972: 56, 645.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 80, repro.

1979

  • Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. Washington, 1979: 1:136-137; 2:pl. 95.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 219, no. 266, color repro.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 99, repro.

1991

  • Gingold, Diane J., and Elizabeth A.C. Weil. The Corporate Patron. New York, 1991: 130-131, color repro.

Wikidata ID

Q3851968

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