Decapitation of a Female Martyr (Saint Catherine of Alexandria?)

A bearded executioner in a plumed hat raises a sword toward a kneeling woman in a crowned headdress and flowing dress, her head bowed. A winged putto hovers at upper right, and a palm frond rises at the edge. The drawing uses pen and brown ink with brown wash over faint chalk.

Look closer: A small winged putto hovers in the clouds at the upper right.

Artist

Anonymous, Spanish, School of Seville, 17th century

Date

17th century

Medium

Pen and brown ink with brush and brown wash over traces of black chalk underdrawing. On off-white paper

Source

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Size

3173 × 2339 px

Credit (appreciated, not required for public-domain works): The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. William B. Jaffe, 1956