Spanish school, 18th century. After CORREGGIO (1489 -1534). "Mystical nuptials of Saint Catherine". Oil on canvas. Relined. 20th century frame following 19th century models. Size: 109 x 100 cm; 132 x 123 cm (frame). The Louvre Museum houses the original work by Correggio on which the present painting is based. This is a faithful version of the Renaissance model, except for the use of somewhat more contrasting and dramatised lighting, typical of a language that has been impregnated with the plastic incursions of the Baroque. The present scene depicts the vision of Saint Catherine being betrothed by the Christ Child, who in the painting is about to place a gold ring on her ring finger. The Virgin takes the divine body in her arms, which glows with inner light, as do the faces of the figures present, with Saint Sebastian being the fourth figure to bear witness to the sacred event. Jesus gazes tenderly at Catherine, who is depicted as a beautiful young woman wrapped in golden cloths. In the background of the composition, the episode in which Sebastian is being martyred is narrated: he is tied to a tree and sawn asunder by a group of Roman soldiers. The faces in the foreground are characterised by the tremendous sweetness that emanates from barely sketched smiles, their features modulated by soft shifts of light. The atmospheric effect and the satiny sensuality of the robes are derived from the Venetian school. The same theme would be treated by other great painters, such as the Flemish genius Anton Van Dyck, and the Spanish artist Diego Ribera, master of Tenebrist naturalism. Saint Catherine de Ricci was an Italian Dominican nun, who is attributed with miraculous visions and bodily encounters with Jesus, both the infant Jesus and the adult Jesus. She is said to have spontaneously bled with the wounds of the crucified Christ. She is venerated for her mystical visions and is honoured as a saint by the Catholic Church. She was born Alessandra Lucrezia Romola de Ricci in Florence to Pier Francesco de Ricci, from a patrician family, and his wife, Caterina Bonza, who died shortly afterwards. At the age of 6 or 7, her father enrolled her in a Benedictine nuns school in the Monticelli quarter, near her home, where her aunt, Luisa de Ricci, was abbess. She was a very devout person from a very young age. There she developed a lifelong devotion to the Passion of Christ. After a short time away from the monastery she entered the Convent of St. Vincent in Prato, Tuscany, a cloistered community of nuns of the Third Order of St. Dominic. By the age of 30 she had risen to the position of prioress, and as prioress, De Ricci became an effective and much admired administrator.