Peter Paul Rubens, The Martyrdom of Saint Catherine,
c.1615, oil on canvas, 372x249cm,
Lille, Palais des Beaux-Arts.
©RMN-GP - cliché Stéphane Maréchalle
Catherine of Alexandria was the daughter of King Coste. From an early age, she was educated in the liberal arts and Christianity. She met the pagan emperor Maximin at a ceremony of idol sacrifice, and the emperor was struck by her beauty and science. After the feast, he tries to convert her with the help of scholars, but Catherine refuses to renounce her faith. Following her rejection, Maximin decided to strip her naked, beat her and lock her up in a prison where she was cared for and fed by angels. She is condemned to the ordeal of the wheel after the emperor sees how little effect his mistreatment has on the saint. The wheel then miraculously broke. Maximin finally had Catherine beheaded around the year 310.
"After which the saint had her head cut off, and from her body gushed milk instead of blood" - Jacques de Voragine, La légende dorée.
Other representations of Saint Catherine and her martyrdom, dating from different periods, can be found in the Palais des Beaux-Arts. Here, Rubens depicts preparations for martyrdom. St. Catherine is shown in the center, dressed in a purple drapery; a woman is about to blindfold her, while another pulls back her hair in preparation for her beheading.