(Rome mid-1490s – 1546 Mantua)
The Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine,
oil on panel, 58 x 47 cm, framed

Provenance:
with Gian Carlo Baroni, Florence, 1969;
Private European collection

Literature:
M. Riccomini, A Few Old Master Drawings in Tartu, Estonia, in: Master Drawings, vol. 47, no. 1, 2009, pp. 83–84, fig. 8 (as Workshop of Giulio Romano, whereabouts unknown);
P. Joannides, Letter, in: Master Drawings, vol. 47, no. 2, 2009, p. 237 (as Giulio Romano);
P. Joannides, A Marriage of St Catherine by Giulio Romano, in: Paragone, vol. 120, no. 781, 2015, pp. 13–17, pl. 9 (as Giulio Romano, circa 1526)

The present painting can be dated to circa 1526, at which time Giulio Romano was in Mantua engaged in his most celebrated work, the fresco decoration of Palazzo Te.

Small format compositions from Giulio Romano’s Mantuan period are rare, however the present work can be compared to the artist’s graphic works of the same period. Paul Joannides (see literature) points out the similarity between the pose of the Madonna in the present painting, who sits with her legs crossed, and the position of Venus in Giulio’s preparatory drawing, entitled Garlands being presented to Venus and Cupid, now in the Teylers Museum, Haarlem (inv. no. A+ 048). The drawing was made for the fresco painted by Girolamo Pontremoli in the Sala dei Venti, in Palazzo del Te in 1527–28. Further comparison can be made with Giulio’s Madonna and Child with Saint John in a private collection, which must date from about the same time (see P. Joannides, An Engraving by Giulio Bonasone after a Drawing by Giulio Romano, in: Print Quarterly, XXXI, 2015, 1, pp. 27–32).

The present Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine is characteristic of Giulio’s relatively early work in its Raphaelesque figurative composition, however, the group here is depicted from the side, in profile, rather than from the oblique angle usually favoured by Raphael for his paintings of the Madonna and the Holy Family. Giulio also emulates the subtlety of Raphael’s psychological observation: Saint Anne’s tender guidance of Catherine’s hand towards the ring is adapted from Raphael’s celebrated Madonna of Divine Love (Museo di Capodimonte, Naples, inv. no. Q 146); the Child’s pose perhaps marks the final arrangement of an idea conceived by Raphael for the second Madonna dei Garofani of 1508 (this painting, probably lost, is recorded by some copies; see P. Joannides, Raphael: A Sorority of Madonnas, in: The Burlington Magazine, 146, 2004, pp. 749–752).

However, in his choice of colours in the present painting, Giulio moves away from Raphael’s example, developing a tendency which was already present in his late Roman works, before his move to Mantua: the emphatic use of yellow was previously present in the Madonna della gatta (Naples, Museo di Capodimonte, inv. no. Q 140) of 1520–1521 and some colour combinations are similar to those in the Pala Fugger (Rome, Santa Maria dell’Anima) of 1523–1524. The flesh tones in the present Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine are warmer than in these earlier paintings and belong to Giulio’s Mantuan period.

Significant comparisons can also be made between the present panel and the frescoes in Palazzo del Te, particularly those in the Sala di Psiche: the female profiles in the present painting are very similar to the figure turning towards the satyr in the banquet scene in the fresco, while the treatment of the fabrics of the robes in this work can also be found in the group with Psyche and her sisters painted on the west wall of the Sala di Psiche.

Giulio Romano was born in Rome, probably in the mid-1490s, and trained as a painter from a very young age under Raphael, working on the decoration of the Vatican Palace, whilst also studying architecture. After Raphael’s death in 1520, Giulio inherited his workshop and completed Raphael’s unfinished work in the Sala di Costantino in the Vatican.

In October 1524 Giulio moved to Mantua to enter the service of Federico II Gonzaga and there he completed one of his most significant architectural commissions, the Palazzo del Te, which he would subsequently decorate with extensive fresco cycles. In order to complete the decoration of the villa’s vast surface, Giulio established a large workshop of assistant artists. He provided the overall decorative frameworks, the composition of their figural groups, and the placement of individual figures in an impressive number of preparatory drawings. The model for this type of working practice derived from Raphael’s large atelier in Rome, in which Giulio had participated, but in Mantua, Guilio’s role was even more complex than it had ever been in Raphael’s workshop. For over twenty years he provided designs for a vast array of items for the ducal court including buildings, tapestries, theatre costumes, silverware and majolica and even schemes for roads and hydraulic works.

In the second edition of his Vite (1568, II, p. 324), Giorgio Vasari describes Romano as ‘inventive, versatile, prolific’, but also ‘jovial, affable, gracious and absolutely abounding in the finest manners’. Vasari met Giulio in Mantua and for him, Giulio embodied the ideal Italian Renaissance artist, who possessed a prodigious talent, but also the manners of a sophisticated courtier.

Another famous friend and admirer of Giulio Romano was Titian, who painted his portrait during his stay in Mantua between 1536 and 1538 which is now in the Museo Civico di Palazzo Te (inv. no. 170386). Indeed, Joannides has pointed out, that the present Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine is an important testimony to the relationship between Titian and Giulio Romano: Titian seems to have been inspired by this composition to paint the grisaille fresco for the tomb of Luigi Trevisano (died 1528) in Santi Giovanni e Paolo in Venice. The lost work is known through a contemporary woodcut by Niccolò Boldrini and a later engraving.

Technical analysis by Gianluca Poldi

The painting is made on a 1.8 cm thick (maximum thickness) wooden panel, with vertical fibres and two wedge-shaped horizontal crossbars. Its back shows evident vertical signs of the chisel work and is painted with a beige/pale brown paint over a white groundlayer. At least two wooden inserts were added at the verso, one at the top, the other at the bottom. The type of panel can be compared to those of other paintings by Giulio Romano of similar dimensions.

IR reflectography performed into two distinct bands (below 1100 nm and up to 1700 nm) shows the presence of a linear accurate underdrawing, which type was normally linked to the use of a cartoon where an accurate drawing outlined the profiles and many details of the figures, like the folds, and objects such as the chair and the cradle. The underdrawing of Joseph’s head, also detailing the curls, is emblematic, as well as that describing the structure of the Madonna’s dress. As Paul Joannides observed in 2015 (see literature) on the basis of previous technical imaging, there are no pentimenti and the rigidity of the graphic system refers to the use of a cartoon.

Not only the rigid typology of the underdrawing, but also its evidence – i.e. its large marked lines which appear to be uncommon in other painters’ practice – can be compared to those found in other paintings attributed to Romano, like the Wellington Madonna at Apsley House (see P. Young, P. Joannides, Giulio Romano’s Madonna at Apsley House, in: The Burlington Magazine, vol. 137, no. 1112, 1995, pp. 728–736) and the Madonna and Child at Palazzo Barberini (R. Bellucci, C. Frosinini, S. Papetti, La ‘Sacra Famiglia’ della Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Fermo, ‘OPD Restauro’, 21, 2009, pp. 97–108): despite the different drawing medium used here, all three works show how the author needed to have a good contrast of the black drawing, and he tended to tread the contour lines with a more marked stroke.

The higher visibility of the underdrawing at lower wavelengths (under 1100 nm) suggests that the ink also contains iron-gall, perhaps together with some carbon black. Careful observation reveal that there are no dots of pouncing, and we can argue the use of another transfer system, like lucid paper or carbon copy, the latter more likely, considering that the lines are not so thin, and perhaps were traced twice to mark them.

IRR images reveal a structure painted behind Joseph, between the column and the broken arch subsequently covered by the painted vegetation in the background. The high absorbance, particularly at longer wavelengths, of the dark ruined wall painted with brown earth behind the figures, indicates the use of a black pigment as underlayer. The wheel of Saint Catherine is painted over the landscape and, due to the black background, without evidence of underdrawing.

Digital microscopy and spectroscopic investigations allow for the pigments and paint layers to be studied.

A brown local priming, mainly containing earths, was applied over the white ground, but seemingly not under the sky. This priming is exploited in some shadows leaving it exposed, as can be seen in the basket. The use of a dark priming over the white gesso ground is uncommon at this date, and the first examples known of this practice are in works by Correggio and Dosso Dossi dating to 1510–1525, and Parmigianino from circa 1526. It is possible that Giulio Romano experimented with this practice in Mantua, having seen the results obtained by one of these aforementioned artists. Giulio’s master, Raphael, worked typically on white or off-white (pale yellow) or occasionally light brown priming, not mid or dark brown as in the present painting.

Furthermore, the use of a black wide layer over the brown priming created a darker context (rocks and soil) in order to contrast the figures, and it was suitable for this night scene that was also a favourite subject of Correggio, such as one of his ‘pittura finta di notte’ (Vasari). The palette includes natural ultramarine blue, azurite, verdigris, lead-tin yellow, yellow-brown ochre, carmine-type red lake, vermillion, brown earths and lead white.

Ultramarine blue (from lapis lazuli mineral) is used in the hat held by Saint Joseph, mixed with sparse grains of red lake to get a purplish undertone differentiating it from the Madonna’s mantle. The precious blue constitutes Saint Anne’s robe, both in the lights – together with lead white – and in the dark shadows, almost black. In the Madonna’s cloak, ultramarine blue is painted over a previous layer containing azurite, again over the brown priming. Azurite is left unglazed in the deep shadows.

Azurite and lead white are used in the sky, sometimes mixed with a few brown particles. Verdigris is found in the green robe of Saint Catherine, mixed with lead-tin yellow in the lighter zones, and is also used in the vegetation, alternating it with azurite, and in the lighter meadow. Saint Catherine’s yellow cloak, based on lead-tin yellow, is shadowed with red coccid-based lake. The brilliant red of Joseph’s cloak is obtained with vermillion, while Mary’s robe contains mainly a red lake which vis-RS absorbance bands can be ascribed to madder lake, and a few particles of vermillion to keep it more vivid. Black pigment is added in the shadows. In the flesh tones, the painter added finely ground vermillion to lead white, but also some particles of blue pigment, perhaps to keep the colour cold. The technique of painting reveals the specific choices Giulio Romano made to create the extraordinary night effect.

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