The ring is the attribute

The subject named here — a mystic marriage — is one of the few in which an attribute is handed over inside the picture. The convention shows the Christ child placing a ring on the finger of a kneeling woman, and the ring, once given, becomes hers. Catherine of Alexandria arrives at the scene already carrying her own sign, the broken wheel, and the marriage adds a second. 27 titles in this catalogue contain the name Catherine; 6 of them describe a marriage or a mystic marriage, which makes it the most repeated episode attached to the name.

What the record holds

The catalogue dates the work to 1682 and gives the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles, CA, US as its location. Its dimensions are 71 x 52 cm, an upright of a size made for a room rather than an altar. It is filed under group portraiture, Religion and religious cultural heritage, with Baroque as the style and Spanish as the nationality; the measured colour family is brown.

A late date for the subject

The date on this entry sits at the end of the seventeenth century, well after the episode had become standard. What the record establishes is a devotional subject at domestic scale, made long after the convention was settled. The ring still does the naming; by this date it is a sign being repeated rather than invented.