UNKNOWN MASTER, Austrian
(active around 1485 in Carinthia)

St Catherine

c. 1520
Painted wood, height 100 cm
Private collection

This late Gothic statue came from Villach, a large city in Carinthia, the southernmost Land (state) in Austria.

St Catherine of Alexandria is a Christian saint and martyr who is claimed to have been a noted scholar in the early 4th century. The Orthodox Church venerates her as a "great martyr", and in the Catholic Church she is traditionally revered as one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers.