The Martyrdom and Last Communion of Saint Lucy

The most literal attribute in the system

Lucy is identified by a pair of eyes, carried on a dish. The sign comes from her legend and from her name, which shares a root with the Latin for light, and it is the most startling object in the whole vocabulary: an attribute that is a part of the saint's own body, presented as a held item. A lamp and a martyr's palm travel with her as well. 2 titles in this collection name Lucy, and both are martyrdom subjects.

What the record holds

The catalogue dates the canvas to 1582 and gives Private Collection as its location. The dimensions are 140 x 173 cm, wider than tall. It is filed under group portraiture, Religion and religious cultural heritage, with Mannerism Late Renaissance as the style and Italian as the nationality; the measured colour family is brown.

Two subjects in one title

The title names both a martyrdom and a last communion, which is unusual — most entries in this collection name one episode. Combining them describes a composition holding two moments at once, and it explains the horizontal format, since two events need lateral room the way a single standing figure does not. The record fixes the year, the measurement and the collection. What the picture does with the pairing is something the entry does not describe, and this page does not describe it either.