Originally placed on the altar of the chapel owned by the Artemini family in the parish church of Santi Fabiano e Sebastiano in Bologna, this altarpiece is Albani’s first dated work (1599), painted about two years before his move to Rome. At the center of the composition is the enthroned Madonna with Child; in the foreground, Saint Catherine of Alexandria kneels on the left, while Mary Magdalene looks directly at the viewer on the right. The composition draws inspiration from Annibale Carracci’s models in the city, particularly his Madonna col Bambino e San Giovannino tra i santi Giovanni Evangelista e Caterina d’Alessandria (1593), also housed in the Pinacoteca Nazionale of Bologna.
