Description
Simone Martini’s Saint Catherine of Alexandria Polyptych is one of his most monumental achievements. Painted for the high altar of the Dominican church of Saint Catherine in Pisa, it is now preserved in the National Museum of San Matteo. The Virgin and Child occupy the centre of an elaborate gilded structure, surrounded by saints, prophets and apostles who together evoke the heavenly community.
The ensemble contains seven major compartments, smaller figures and a long predella. Its many faces, trefoil arches and pointed pinnacles create an extraordinary visual rhythm. Simone signed the painting, providing unusually direct evidence of authorship. The altarpiece combines Sienese refinement with Dominican religious thought and shows how medieval altar paintings could serve collective worship while sustaining close, individual contemplation.
