Lorenzo d'Alessandro da Sanseverino, 'The Marriage of Saint Catherine of Siena', probably about 1481-1500

This is the main panel of an altarpiece painted for a Dominican church in Fabriano, in the Marche region of Italy. The Virgin Mary sits on a marble throne in a walled enclosure (part of a low marble wall is just visible on the left). Flowers grow in the grass at her feet: in Christian theology Mary was sometimes described as a hortus conclusus (‘enclosed garden’) on account of her chastity. She looks lovingly at the Christ Child balanced on her left knee, and her long fingers curl protectively around him.

Latin words are inscribed on the Virgin’s halo: ‘AVE. [MARIA] GRATIA. PLENA. DO.[MINUS TECUM]’ (‘Hail Mary, full of Grace, the Lord [is with you]’); the Christ Child’s halo reads: ‘[EGO] SVM LVX [MVNDI]’ (‘I am the light of the world’). The pair are surrounded by saints, who are also named on their halos. On the left is Saint Dominic, the patron of the church; on the right, Saint Nicholas of Bari presents an unnamed Dominican beatus (‘blessed’, one step below sainthood), probably the Blessed Costanzo da Fabriano (who died in 1481/2).

The Dominican tertiary Saint Catherine of Siena kneels in the foreground. The Christ Child is placing a golden ring – a symbol of spiritual union – on her finger in imitation of the ‘mystic marriage’ between Christ and her namesake, Saint Catherine of Alexandria. Behind them a choir of musical angels sing and play instruments. The panel showing the pietà, which once sat on the tope of the altarpiece, is now in the Uffizi, Florence.

This is one of a small number of paintings by Lorenzo d'Alessandro da Sanseverino: he signed his name in Latin in the roundel, sculpted into the front of the parapet beneath the Virgin’s feet. As suggested by his name, the artist was born in a city called Sanseverino, which was in the Marche; he spent his entire life in and around the city. Artistically, he was formed by Marchian painters of the previous generation, such as Girolamo da Camerino, Niccolo Alunno and – above all – Carlo Crivelli. The highly decorative quality of this picture, with its crisp painting style, detailed depiction of faces and rich garments, and the extensively decorated gilding all hark back to Crivelli. Even details such as the apple and cucumber that cast shadows on the marble step are taken from him.

We know of four signed and dated pictures by this painter: a large triptych of 1481(Pinacoteca Parrocchiale, Corridonia); a fresco of 1483 in Santa Maria di Piazza, Sarnano; the Madonna del Monte of 1491 (Collegiata di Santa Maria del Monte, Caldarola); and an altarpiece of the Virgin and Child with St Antony of Padua of 1496 (San Andrea Apostolo, Pollenza). The National Gallery altarpiece is generally dated to around 1491.