DIEGO DE CASSANOVA (Active in Mexico City, mid-17th century) Saint Catherine of Alexandria Oil on canvas65 1/3 x 48 inches (166 x 122 cm) Signed, lower left: Do de Cassanova Little is known about the life of this painter whose Purisima (1664) was cited by José Bernardo Cuoto in 1947. The appearance of such a fine work by Cassanova on the market, with nothing known of his biography, is an example of the work still to be done in the Viceregal field. Judging from this work alone, he can be favorably compared to the finest of his immediate predecessors, like Baltasar de Echave Ibía (c.1585/1604-1643) and Luis (ca.1585-1639) and José Juárez (1617-1661). One scholar has compared Cassanova’s work to that of Baltasar de Echave Rioja, who worked in the atelier of José Juárez c. 1661. The details in this painting illustrate the craft of a mature and highly accomplished painter. The stolid and well-rendered body of St Catherine, her fine hands and face, and the details of her costume/jewelry, including the crisp and angular drapery like that found in Echave Ibía and José Juárez ’s styles is evidence of a painter working in the power center of Mexico City. Catherine’s beauty is belied by heavy-lidded eyes and shadowy circles under the eyes. The cool-colored, Flemish-inspired landscape behind the saint is painted well, and its rich elements also belie the martyr’s suffering; she stands, crowned and still proud, holding her martyr’s palm. The spikes attached to the broken ‘Catherine wheel’ are the sharp, crisp, and realistic reminders of an earlier attempt at execution by torture for her Christian faith, and those (including the Emperor Maxentius’ wife) that she converted from pagan beliefs. As Catherine touched the wheel, it was miraculously destroyed. Maxentius then had her beheaded. St. Catherine is venerated as the patroness of philosophers and preachers, wheelwrights and mechanics.
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