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strange and beautiful paintings
St Catherine of Siena as a girl floating upstairs
detail: St Catherine's face
Inspired by a nineteenth century painting in the Convent of St Catherine, Siena.
The starting point for this painting was a somewhat bizarre sequence of paintings by A. Franchi, dated 1900, in the Santuario Casa di S. Caterina in Siena. The original paintings show St Catherine as a girl of about 10 years. She prays, and a dove hovers over her head, while her father looks on as if he doesn't know what to make of it.
In the painting that directly inspired this one, St Catherine floats upstairs while praying, while her mother looks on in some surprise. Through an open door Catherine's playmates can be seen playing ring-a-roses outside.
Then, in perhaps the most curious painting of all, under the gaze of a young and very intense looking priest, we see her cutting off her hair, 'per dimonstrare la sua volontà di consacrarsi a Dio.'
The more or less spray-on clothing in my version is inspired by Pontormo's Deposition in the chiesa di Santa Felicita (church of the holy happiness or the church of St Felicity?), Florence.
Oil on prepared paper, 18x14 inches,
Martin Dace 2003.
A desktop-sized version of this image is available for download from my free wallpaper page.
All images are copyright © Martin Dace 2003, 2005: you must contact me for permission if you wish to publish or reproduce my pictures. Permission will usually be granted for web use provided my authorship and copyright is acknowledged and a link back to my site is provided. A link from my website to yours is also a possibility.