St Catherine of Alexandria

The painting represents St Catherine of Alexandria, holding the palm of her martyrdom in one hand and her book in the other which she props up on the spiked wheel (an instrument of her martyrdom). It was probably executed during the artist's second sojourn in Naples, from 1641-1652. The pose of the saint shows an awareness of the paintings by Ribera, for example his St Jerome in the Doria Pamphilj collection in Rome.