# Posture and drapery: a clue to dating

The movement of the hips and the pipe-like folds cascading down the supporting leg give the figure a certain dynamism. This type of composition can be found in a late 14th-century statuette of Saint Catherine in the Louvre.

In this model, the same cascading, pin-like folds can be seen on the belly, as well as the drapery falling away from the saint's feet.The similar posture also supports the hypothesis that our statue was leaning on the sword, once complete, as in the Louvre statuette.

Anonyme, Statuette : sainte Catherine ?,
1380-1390, ivory, 24.5x7.5x5.6cm,
Paris, Musée du Louvre
© 1995 GrandPalaisRmn (Musée du Louvre)
/ Daniel Arnaudet

However, there are no pipe-like folds in this statuette.This detail can be seen on the statue of St. Catherine of Alexandria, created by André Beauneveu between 1374 and 1384. Here, we note all the aspects already mentioned: the posture, the fall of the drapery, the pin-like pleats in addition to the pipe pleats.

André Beauneveu, Saint Catherine of Alexandria, 1374-1384,
alabaster, 186x56x34cm, Courtrai, Notre-Dame church
© GrandPalaisRmn / Daniel Arnaudet / Christian Jean

This type of representation is specific to the 14th century. In the centuries that followed, the folds of the drapery would be represented in a completely different way, as demonstrated by the 16th-century Saint Catherine of Alexandria in the Palais des Beaux-Arts.

Anonymous, Saint Catherine of Alexandria, early 16th century,
carved and polychromed limestone, 107x42x29cm,
Lille, Palais des Beaux-Arts
credit: Photo (C) RMN-GP - Hervé Lewandowski