English: tempera on wood ; wood 113 x 29.5 cm; In: Sacred subjects: episodes in the New Testament, apostles, saints, and martyrdoms. Tempera and oil paintings, 13-- and ca. 1600.
One of a set of paintings (for the set, see record no. 43771i in the Wellcome Library catalogue). They are painted on four pieces of wood: each piece is painted on both sides. Each side was painted twice: first possibly in the 14th century, in tempera, and then in the 16th or 17th century the tempera paintings were painted over with oil paintings. The inner layer (in tempera) depicts episodes in the New Testament, and the outer layer (in oil) depicts episodes in the New Testament, apostles, saints, and martyrdoms. Some parts of the outer layer have been destroyed
From ca. 1600 to ca. 1968 the painting was covered with an outer layer, painted in oil, showing the Visitation above and Saint Catherine below. In the upper scene, a woman behind the Virgin holds a basket of roses on her head. In the lower scene was shown a pensive man at Saint Catherine's feet, wearing a crown and holding a wand of office: presumably the Roman emperor who persecuted her. The upper scene had a scallop niche above and was inscribed "VISITACION"; the lower scene included an apse above and was inscribed "S: CATALINA". This outer layer was destroyed ca. 1968 on the ground that the inner paintings were more interesting from an art-historical point of view.
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