This is a rare and particularly fine example of one of Coello’s religious compositions, painted on cork for the Monastery of El Escorial. Accompanied by his mother Mary, the Christ Child appears to Saint Catherine of Alexandria, showing his gratitude for her love of him, which was ritualised through the concept of spiritual marriage. The painting is clearly influence by Italian art, with references to Parmigianino, Correggio and Luca Cambiaso, but the pictorical construction is closer to Netherlandish painting, with which Sánchez Coello was notably familiar.