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Predella Panel from an Altarpiece: St. Catherine of Siena Invested with the Dominican Habit
About the Artwork
Saint Catherine (1347–1380) was the daughter of a prosperous Sienese cloth dyer. At the age of six, she saw a vision of Christ and thereafter dedicated herself to chastity, penance, and good works. She became extremely popular in Siena when she selflessly cared for the sick and dying victims of the bubonic plague, known as the Black Death. These panels were once part of a predella (or pedestal) of a large altarpiece painted for the Hospital Church of Siena. The main scene of this altarpiece, showing the Presentation of Christ in the Temple (now preserved in Siena) was ordered by the Pork Butchers Guild (the Pizzicaiuoli) in 1447. The predella was added later when Catherine was canonized in 1461. In the first panel she kneels before an altar and reaches up to choose from the monastic garments offered by Saints Dominic, Augustine, and Francis, all founders of religious orders. Catherine takes the habit of Saint Dominic, which she wore as the founder of the Sisters of Penance. The second panel shows, at the right, Saint Catherine giving her cloak to a threadbare beggar. The beggar was really Christ in disguise, and at the left he returns the cloak to her. For this act of charity, the cloak perpetually protected its wearer from the cold.
Provenance
1461-?: S. Maria della Scala, Siena 1838-1867: Johann Anton Ramboux, Cologne (bought in Siena, c. 1838) 1867: (Cologne Sale May 1867) 1867: A. Muller, Dusseldorf, sold to the Hohenzollern Family ?-1920: Hohenzollern family, Sigmaringen 1921-1966: Baron Adolphe Stoclet, Brussels 1966: (R. Heinemann, New York, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) 1966-: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
Golden Anniversary of Acquisitions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 10-October 16, 1966). Lust und Verlust: Kölner Sammler zwischen Trikolore und Preussenadler (Joy and Loss: Cologne Collectors between the tricolore and the Prussian eagle). Josef Haubrich Kunsthalle (October 24, 1995-January 14, 1996). Sanctity Pictured: The Art of the Dominican and Franciscan Orders in Renaissance Italy. Frist Art Museum, Nashville, TN (organizer) (October 31, 2014-January 25, 2015).
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Giovanni di Paolo (Italian, c. 1403–1482)
- Date
- 1460s
- Medium
- tempera and gold on wood panel
- Dimensions
- Framed: 35.6 x 29.5 x 4.5 cm (14 x 11 5/8 x 1 3/4 in.); Unframed: 28.9 x 23 cm (11 3/8 x 9 1/16 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- Painting
- Department
- Medieval Art
- Credit line
- Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust
- Accession no.
- 1966.2
More by Giovanni di Paolo in museum collections
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Open-access museum record · AT-00009293
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