The Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine

Poussin had come to Rome in 1624 as an unknown Frenchman in his thirties, and this small panel dates from around 1628, while he was still building a name among the city's collectors. It shows the Virgin holding the Christ child as he slips a ring onto the finger of Saint Catherine, an angel behind them carrying the sword that marks her coming martyrdom. One thing sets it apart from most of Poussin's work: he painted it not on canvas but on five oak boards joined together. It once belonged to Cassiano dal Pozzo, the Roman antiquarian whose vast collection of drawings after ancient art Poussin pored over in exactly these years.