A Study in Iconography: St Catherine of Alexandria

Abstract

The relationship between religion and art has for centuries been a close one. Indeed, the very purpose of European art for most of its history was to serve religion. Yet the nature of that relationship is a complex one and gives rise to certain fundamental questions: What is the connection between visual and textual traditions? What transformations occur in images produced in different times and places, and why do they occur? How do these changes in visual imagery affect the concepts transmitted by the images?