Saint Catherine c. 1480

This small devotional image of Saint Catherine was made in Europe, likely Germany, sometime in the late Middle Ages. It’s rendered with simple lines and bold color. Catherine, with her fashionable long blonde hair, rests her hand on a large sword, and at her feet is a broken wheel. This is Catherine of Alexandria, who, according to legend, debated pagan philosophers and converted them to Christianity. Enraged, the Roman Emperor Maxentius ordered her execution on a spiked wheel. But when Catherine touched it, the wheel miraculously shattered. He then had her beheaded. As such, the wheel and sword became Catherine's attributes. She was venerated as a protector of learning and was the patron saint of philosophers, students, and librarians. Images such as this one were likely made for private devotion, to be kept and contemplated by the literate elite. To understand this image better, one can research the history of the cult of Saint Catherine and the function of the print in late medieval Europe, where it was shaped by religious beliefs and social structures.