David Bowie’s Tintoretto: Angel Foretelling the Martyrdom of Saint Catherine of Alexandria

In May 2017, the Rubensuis in Antwerp received on long-term loan from a private collector Jacopo Tintoretto’s Angel Foretelling the Martrydom of Saint Catherine of Alexandria. The painting was bought at Sotheby’s in London from the sale of the estate of rock star David Bowie who had acquired the painting from Colnaghi in the late 1980s. Commissioned by members of the Scuola di Santa Caterina for the church of San Geminiano in the Piazza San Marco in Venice, the altarpiece was displayed in this central location for some 250 years. In 1807 Napoleon had the church destroyed to make way for a royal palace, and, after a few years at the Gallerie dell’Accademia, Tintoretto’s painting passed into private hands. With contributions from leading scholars of Tintoretto and admirers such as Anthony van Dyck and Peter Paul Rubens, this book presents new technical research on the painting, reconstructs its original location in San Geminiano, and reveals the profound influence Tintoretto had on the development of Baroque painting Download PDF publication