St Catherine of Siena

Catherine of Siena had been a saint for barely 30 years when this panel was made in the early 1490s. A Dominican laywoman who died in 1380, famous for the letters she dictated to popes and rulers, she was canonised in 1461 by Pius II, a pope from a Sienese family. On the high altar of Santa Maria Novella, the Dominican church of Florence, she was one of six tall saint panels that stood around the two central pictures, more than two metres high and only about 60 centimetres wide. The museum credits it to Domenico Ghirlandaio and his workshop. Several of her companions on the altar were also recent figures of the order. One was Vincent Ferrer, canonised in 1455. Another was Antonino, the Dominican archbishop of Florence, who had died in 1459 and would not be made a saint until 1523.