Francisco Gallego, St. Catherine Altarpiece

15th century
Oil on panel
Chapter Room, the Old Cathedral, Salamanca, Spain

This display was assembled from extant pieces of the altarpiece that was originally created for the old cathedral's St. Catherine Chapel.

• The predella (left to right):
  1. St. Gregory the Great, holding a chalice with the Eucharistic host (referring to the "Mass of St. Gregory")
  2. St. Peter with his keys and St. Paul with his sword (Follow this link for a detail photo of this part of the predella.)
  3. St. Jerome with his red had and cope
• The lower register had five panels for the Passion of Christ in chronological order (left to right):
  1. The Ecce Homo
  2. The Way to Calvary
  3. Missing panel, surely the Crucifixion
  4. The Pietà
  5. The Resurrection
• In the upper register a central portrait of St. Catherine of Alexandria was flanked by four narrative panels of her passion in chronological order (left to right):
  1. Missing panel, probably Catherine's debate with the pagan philosophers, which precedes the wheel episode.
  2. The Wheel Episode
  3. Portrait of St. Catherine with her attributes: wheel, sword, books.
  4. She is beheaded.
  5. Angels prepare to take her body to Mount Sinai.

Follow this link for a large photo and discussion of the three central panels in the upper register.

View this image in full resolution.
Read more about St. Catherine, St. Gregory the Great, St. Peter, and St. Paul.
Read more about St. Jerome, The Ecce Homo, The Way of the Cross, The Pietà, and The Resurrection.

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• St. Catherine of Alexandria
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Photographed at the site by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.