Italian school; 17th century.

Italian school; XVII century.
"The martyrdom of St. Stephen".
Gilded bronze.
Measurements: 15,5 x 20,5 cm.
This work represents the martyrdom of St. Stephen, his stoning by the Jews. The deacon Stephen was the first martyr of the Christian faith. He was stoned by the Jews, who accused him of blaspheming Moses. According to a 10th century manuscript dedicated to his biography, on the day he was born he was taken away by Satan, who replaced him in his cradle with a small demon. He then left the child girdled at the door of a bishop named Julion, who discovered the child being suckled by a white doe and adopted him. Some time later Stephen returned to his father's house, and with the sign of the cross expelled the demon that occupied his place. Ordained deacon by the apostles, he argued with the Jewish rhetoricians, who had him arrested and condemned for blasphemy to death by stoning.
Due to the dimensions of the piece, it is probable that it was conceived for private devotion. It is worked with the "schiacciato" technique, a system of modeling in sculptural relief used by the Romans and perfected in the 15th century by Donatello, which consists of proportionally reducing the bulk of the relief according to the depth to be represented. This sculptural technique makes it possible to create a bas-relief with a minimal variation (sometimes referred to as millimeters) with respect to the background. To give the viewer the illusion of depth, the gradual decrease in the depth of the thickness is complemented by the rigorous application of the laws of perspective, which enhances the visual effect.