St. Catherine of Siena and the Beggar (1460s): Art, History and Details

St. Catherine of Siena and the Beggar (1460s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Giovanni di Paolo (Italian, c. 1403–1482).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

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 much beloved in Siena for selflessly caring for victims of the Black Death. This panel, with 1966.2, was 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 beggar. The beggar was really Christ in disguise, and at the left returns the cloak to her. For this act of charity, the cloak perpetually protected its wearer from the cold.

Object facts

• Title: St. Catherine of Siena and the Beggar
• Date: 1460s
• Creator attribution: Giovanni di Paolo (Italian, c. 1403–1482)
• Culture: Italy, Siena
• Type: Painting
• Technique: tempera and gold on wood
• Dimensions: Framed: 35.6 x 35.7 x 4.5 cm (14 x 14 1/16 x 1 3/4 in.); Unframed: 28.7 x 28.9 cm (11 5/16 x 11 3/8 in.)
• Collection: MED - Medieval Art
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 1966.3

A detail from the museum

Giovanni di Paolo painted both large altarpieces and small manuscripts.

Collection credit

Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust

Further reading listed by the museum

• Ramboux, Johann Anton. Catalog der nachgelassenen Kunst-Sammlungen des Herrn Johann Anton Ramboux Versteigerung zu Cöln am 23. Mai 1867 durch J. M. Heberle (H. Lempertz). 1867.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.
• Cleveland Museum of Art, “Golden Anniversary Acquisition,” 1966, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.