Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine

Three figures lean into the moment here, and a fourth looks away from it. On the left, Saint Catherine presses her palms together while the Christ Child, held on his mother's lap, raises two fingers towards her in blessing. Mary's eyes follow the gesture. Behind them, against a green hanging, Saint Joseph turns his bearded face straight out of the picture and meets our eyes. The Borghese catalogue notes that his features seem to be modelled on a Roman mosaic, which may be why he looks heavier and more solemn than the smooth, rounded faces beside him. Innocenzo da Imola painted the panel early in his career, sometime in the first quarter of the 1500s. Beyond Catherine's shoulder rises a pale mountain shaped like a cone, and a small ring already sits on one of her fingers.