# Saint Catherine of Alexandria

**Bartolomeo Bulgarini** (Italian, c. 1300–1378)  
c. 1335/1340  
tempera on panel  
painted surface (edge of gilding to edge of gilding): 73.5 × 40.5 cm (28 15/16 × 15 15/16 in.) painted surface (edge of paint to edge of paint): 73.5 × 41 cm (28 15/16 × 16 1/8 in.) overall: 73.5 × 42 × 1 cm (28 15/16 × 16 9/16 × 3/8 in.) framed: 95.3 x 47.3 x 6 cm (37 1/2 x 18 5/8 x 2 3/8 in.)

Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1943.4.20. [The museum's record](https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.12118.html).

## About this work

Bartolomeo Bulgarini painted this in about 1335/1340, aged about 35. It is now at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.

### What you’re looking at

Shown from the waist up, a woman wearing a garnet-red robe rests a book and a palm frond against a spiked wheel, all against a gold background in this arched, vertical painting. The woman’s light skin is tinged with pale green, and her cheeks are faint pink. Her shoulders face us, and she slightly looks up and off to our right with gray eyes under curved brows. She has a long, straight nose, and her small, full, bow-shaped lips are closed. Her wavy blond hair is parted down the middle and pulled back at the base of her head. Her red robe has a pattern of delicate diamond shapes and the underside is white, visible where it turns over around the neck. The robe is fastened with a round, gold disk the size of a DVD. Letters there read, “S.K.A.T.E.R.I.N.A.” around the perimeter of a four-lobed, red, blue, and gold geometric design at the center of the brooch. The sky-blue garment beneath her robe has a marine-blue collar. She clasps the palm frond in her left hand, to our right. The hand rests on the book, which is propped against the wheel in front of her, so the frond reaches beyond and above that shoulder, nearly to the edge of the painting. The wheel is edged with short, curving spikes like talons. The woman’s gold crown and round halo blend into the shimmering gold background, which is visibly cracked in some areas. The top of the panel curves up as if into an arch but is cut across the panel over her halo.

_Description from the National Gallery of Art._

### How it was made

- **Tempera.** Pigment bound with egg yolk. It dries in minutes and can’t be blended wet, so painters built up form with fine, hatched strokes. It was Europe’s main panel technique before oil.

### [Bartolomeo Bulgarini](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/bartolomeo-bulgarini)

Italian, c. 1300–1378

## Facts

- Type: Painting
- The artist was about 35
- Real size: about 29 × 16 in (74 × 41 cm). The 20 × 30 in print is close to life size.
- Century: 14th century
- Subjects: saints, Catherine
- Colour: brown
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/1363.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/1363/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68; 20 × 30 in $86
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164; 20 × 30 in $208
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98; 18 × 24 in $118
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3; 20 × 30 in $5

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/saint-catherine-of-alexandria-nga-12118).