Betrothal of St Catherine

The motif of the mystical marriage of St Catherine with the infant Christ is depicted against the backdrop of a curtain held up by three hovering angels. The Virgin is seated on the left wearing a blue mantle, a red robe and a white veil. She has a sumptuous black cushion on her lap and holds the naked infant Christ towards St Catherine, who kneels on her right. She is wearing a regal robe with a belt with a buckle and a chain, and the hilt of her sword is visible on the right. Her long, curly hair cascades down her shoulders and her back. as a symbol of their affliiation the infant Christ puts a ring on a finger of her outstretched right hand. A further female figure (Margaret?) is visible between St Catherine and Christ. She looks at the open book in her hands to indicate St Catherine's Christian learning.

The second sumptuously dressed woman at the right edge depicts St Barbara. She turns to the central group with her hands held in an attitude of prayer and at the same time mediates between the foreground and a narrow strip of landscape in the background. A wall or tower niche is visible in front of her containing the eucharist chalice with a host, while behind her head a landscape with trees and a medieval town can be made out.

[Adam C. Oellers, in Exhib. Cat. Aachen 1993, No. 21]