Vincenzo Catena was a Venetian who seems to have started painting in the style of Bellini and his follower Cima. By 1506 he had formed a partnership with Giorgione, whose style continued to influence him, even after Giorgione's death in 1510.
Catena's work is less lyrical than Giorgione's but has a solidity and charm of its own. The first notice of Catena is the inscription on the back of Giorgione's portrait of ''Laura'' dated 1506 (in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna) describing Catena as his partner. Such partnerships were not uncommon in the 15th and 16th centuries.
Catena appears to have had an independent income and to have moved in the circles of Venetian humanists such as Pietro Bembo. This may have been how he met Giorgione.
A comparison of the background of Catena's 'Warrior adoring the Infant Christ' with Giorgione's 'Sunset Landscape' shows Catena's debt to him.
Vincenzo Catena
active 1506 - 1531
Paintings by Vincenzo Catena
We do not know the origins of this mysterious painting. It has the wide rectangular shape typical of Venetian votive pictures made to thank the Virgin Mary or a patron saint.The Virgin sits on a stone throne ornamented with sphinxes, symbolising wisdom, while Saint Joseph stands beside her. A war...
Not on display
An unidentified young man dressed plainly in black stares back at us from the canvas. He stands upright and motionless while behind him clouds race across the sky. The composition has been carefully centred so that a vertical line could be drawn straight down the bridge of his nose and through th...
Andrea Gritti (1455–1538) was elected doge (head of the Venetian state) in 1523, and this painting was probably made soon afterwards. He wears his robes of office and on his left hand is a gold ring with a device representing the doge kneeling before Saint Mark, patron saint of Venice.Catena’s po...
Saint Jerome, who translated the Bible into Latin from Greek and Hebrew, is reading in his study, surrounded by books, an inkwell, an unlit candle and Crucifix. A lion, his traditional companion, lies on the ground near his creased slippers. The partridge may be associated with both truth and de...
Probably by Vincenzo Catena
The Virgin looks away as the infant Christ leans forward to touch his cousin Saint John the Baptist under the chin. The presence of the infant Saint John suggests the influence of Florentine art, as he is rare in Venetian art before this date. There are several versions of this design which may d...
Not on display