* Bartholomäus Spranger Antwerp 1546 - circa 1611 Prague

T. DaCosta Kaufmann, L'Ecole de Prague. La Peinture a la Cour de Rudolphe II, Paris 1985, p. 291, no. 20.11 (as by Spranger);
T. DaCosta Kaufmann, The School of Prague, Painting at the Court of Rudolf II, Chicago and London 1988, p. 253, no. 20.11 (as by Spranger).

The attribution of the present panel to Spranger was first proposed by Konrad Oberhuber.  It would date from the early to mid-1580's, and thus be among the earliest of Spranger's works painted during his Prague sojourn (from the autumn of 1580).

This panel is one of a group of paintings of individual female saints which date from this early Prague period.  The feature of the flying angels carrying crowns and garlands may also be found in a series of three similar but slightly larger panels depicting Saints Margaret, Ursula and Catherine, all now in the Huntington Art Gallery, Austin, Texas (cf. DaCosta Kaufmann 1988 Literature below, p. 258, nos. 20.27-29).  Two further larger panels also date from this period, depicting Saints Elizabeth and Ursula (Strahov Abbey, Prague) and Saints Monkca and Catherine (Prague, idem, p. 253-4, 20.14-17, reproduced).

Dr. Eliska Fucikova, following first-hand inspection of the original, confirmed the attribution to Spranger, but has suggested that there may be some studio participation in the present panel, and those in Austin.