Patent homage to the Leonardesque magisterium of the nuanced and the chiaroscuro, the legendary episode of the mystical union of Saint Catherine of Alexandria with the Christ child is conceived by Sodom as a collected and composed ceremony. While the young martyr humbly bows to receive the ring, the old Joseph is summoned to testify at the wedding, who with his presence also serves to give a balanced symmetry to the image and a centrality not only geometric to the figure of Mary. Finally, the singular, rustic pergola that frames the trio contributes to underline the hierarchical structure of the composition, beyond which a distant, misty and indistinct view opens up, a landscape of “perdimenti” equally mindful of Leonardo's lesson.