Focusing on the Analysis of this artwork, explain the Catherine of Siena about the Devotion or exorcism.
Catherine of Siena Considering that Catherine of Siena was the object of great veneration both at the Vatican and all over Italy, Gesualdo must have been particularly impressed by her fight against the devil, which he could read about in her major work, The Dialogue.
Deceased in 1380, Catherine of Siena had supported Pope Urban VI during the Western Schism. In recognition, Pope Pius II canonized her in 1461. Glenn Watkins observes that Urban VI was Neapolitan, and that the succession of Pius II elevated Gesualdo's maternal great-uncle to the throne of St. Peter under the name of Pius IV in 1559. The presence of St. Catherine of Siena therefore appears “as a prefiguration of Borromeo’s own ascension to saintly status the very next year.”
Pope Pius II Catherine of Siena Glenn Watkins Pope Urban VI Italy Western Schism Gesualdo Pius IV