Scenes from the Life and Martyrdom of Saints Catherine and Clement (Jan Rombouts)

[2] This double-sided painted panel, with representations from the life of Saint Catherine on the inside and a cross in grisaille on the outside, was made between 1525 and 1535.

[1] The front of the panel tells stories from the life and martyrdom of Catharine as told in the Legenda Aurea.

Catharine refused to marry the pagan emperor Maxentius, since she believed she was already mystically betrothed to Christ.

Catharine is depicted kneeling down praying in the foreground of the painting, waiting for the final blow.

Clement is arrested, Sisinnius furiously raises his sword and Theodora tries to calm down her husband.

On the right-hand side of the panel is depicted how Clement was exiled a few years later by Emperor Trajan to an island in the Pontus, where many Christians were employed in the marble quarries.