This figure is Saint Catherine of Alexandria. The carving is highly detailed. If you look closely, you can see the ring on her right hand. Down on the left, beneath her feet, is the emperor Maxentius. Catherine’s story is tragic. The emperor fell in love with her and wished to marry her, but she rejected him. Maxentius would not accept this and had her tortured. Behind Catherine is a breaking wheel, an instrument of torture that was to be used on her. Eventually she was beheaded by sword, hence the wheel and sword.
This sculpture was probably made for the first Begijnhof (or beguinage, built to house a community of religious laywomen) in Breda, close to the castle. Catherine was their patron saint. She was one of the most popular saints in medieval times, regarded above all as the patron saint of women, and also the defender of chastity and protector from the plague.
Statue of Saint Catherine, c. 1525, wood | Stedelijk Museum Breda; on loan from Bishops’ Museum Breda