Image: Bartolomeo Veneto, Saint Catherine (c1520). Oil on panel. 35.2 x 27.9 cm. Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow. Annotations Bartolommeo Veneto The Städel’sche Institut at Frankfurt A LITTLE wreath of bay about her head, The Virgin-Martyr stands, touching her wheel With finger-tips that from the spikes of steel Shrink, though a thousand years she has been dead. She bleeds each day as on the day she bled ; Her pure, gold cheeks are blanched, a cloudy seal Is on her eyes ; the mouth will never feel Pity again ; the yellow hairs are spread Downward as damp with sweat ; they touch the rim Of the green bodice that to blackness throws The thicket of bay-branches sharp and trim Above her shoulder : open landscape glows Soft and apart behind her to the right, Where a swift shallop crosses the moonlight. Rhyme Scheme Bartolommeo Veneto The Städel’sche Institut at Frankfurt A LITTLE wreath of bay about her head, The Virgin-Martyr stands, touching her wheel With finger-tips that from the spikes of steel Shrink, though a thousand years she has been dead. She bleeds each day as on the day she bled ; Her pure, gold cheeks are blanched, a cloudy seal Is on her eyes ; the mouth will never feel Pity again ; the yellow hairs are spread Downward as damp with sweat ; they touch the rim Of the green bodice that to blackness throws The thicket of bay-branches sharp and trim Above her shoulder : open landscape glows Soft and apart behind her to the right, Where a swift shallop crosses the moonlight. Book traversal links for Saint Katharine of Alexandria ‹ A Portrait Up Saint Sebastian ›
