The Martyrdom of Saint Catherine of Alexandria (c. 1497): Art, History and Details

The Martyrdom of Saint Catherine of Alexandria (c. 1497) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471–1528).

The work and its context

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

Saint Catherine was among the most popular virgin martyrs during this period and was particularly venerated in Dürer’s hometown of Nuremberg for her intermediary role between the faithful and God. A princess from Alexandria, Catherine was condemned to die on spiked wheels by the Roman emperor Maxentius because of her Christian faith. In answer to her prayers, God destroyed the wheels with such force that 4,000 pagans were killed. Afterward, Catherine was willingly decapitated. Dürer’s focus on Catherine’s peaceful acceptance in the midst of destruction conveys the power she derived from her chastity and unwavering faith, providing an excellent example for ordinary women to follow.

Object facts

• Title: The Martyrdom of Saint Catherine of Alexandria
• Date: c. 1497
• Creator attribution: Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471–1528)
• Culture: Germany, late 15th-early 16th Century
• Type: Print
• Technique: woodcut
• Collection: PR - Woodcut
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1928.635

Collection credit

Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland

Further reading listed by the museum

• "Some Recent Accession to the Department of Prints." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 15, no. 10 (December 1928): 194-196, 198-199, 201, 207

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.