Italian school; XVIII century.

Italian school; XVIII century.
"Saint Agnes".
Oil on canvas. Relined.
It has frame, c. 1800.
Measurements: 92 x 76 cm; 108 x 92 cm (frame).
Devotional image framed within the Italian school, with a sober and perfectly balanced composition and a monumental figure, sculptural, idealized face and sweet mystical expression. The light reflects the knowledge of contemporary tenebrism: a spotlight, which penetrates the painting through the upper left corner and directly affects the main areas of the image, leaving the rest enveloped in a nuanced penumbra and also supporting the construction of volumes and space. It represents Saint Agnes, who appears half-length, lovingly holding a lamb.
The name of Saint Agnes was taken from the Greek adjective "agné", which means pure, chaste. On the other hand, the Romans linked it to the Latin noun "agnus" (lamb), although there is no etymological relationship. From this popular etymology derives the legend of the saint. It has been believed that such a name could be a symbol (virgo casta) rather than a real person, especially since the historical existence of St. Agnes is doubtful. At the beginning there were two different traditions referring to two martyrs of the same name, which were later confused. According to St. Ambrose and St. Damasus, Agnes was a girl martyred at the age of twelve, with her throat slit. Her martyrdom would have occurred around 305, during the persecution of Diocletian. The Greek tradition, different, concerns an adult virgin. According to the Menologion of Basil, Agnes would have refused to offer sacrifices to the gods. The two traditions, Latin and Greek, soon merged and were enriched with new legendary features, such as the miracle of the hair and the mantle, which was popularized by the Golden Legend. When the son of a prefect fell in love with her, Agnes rejected him, and the suitor fell ill with grief. Her father, the prefect, summoned her to court, and unable to force her to marry his son, let her choose between making a sacrifice to the gods or dishonor. Taken naked to a brothel, her hair instantly grew long and covered her body. As if that hair were not enough, an angel wrapped her in a white mantle. She is the first saint to be endowed with an attribute (6th century). Her main iconographic symbol is the white lamb, symbol of her purity. The lamb is not only an allusion to her name. It is also a reminder of the vision of her parents, who, eight days after her death, are said to have seen their daughter appear with a lamb on her right side. She is also recognized by the burning bonfire whose flames move away without even touching her, by the sword, instrument of torture, and by the palm of martyrdom.