Saint Agatha
Ca. 1680.On display elsewhere
In this canvas, the painter has depicted Saint Agatha, monumentalised and sensual, full-length, standing and slightly turned to her right. The young woman, dressed in a luxurious old-fashioned garment that exposes part of her breast, covers one of her breasts with her right hand – an allusion to her main attribute – while her left hand rests on a console table, holding the palm of martyrdom. In rapture, St Agatha, looks up to heaven, where two little angels are fluttering overhead: one is about to place a crown of roses on the martyr and the other is holding a bouquet of lilies, both symbols of glory and purity, respectively.
On the left side, Francisco Rizi has introduced a landscape reference, with the martyrdom of the saint in a synchronised representation. Thus, under a vaporous, golden sky, Saint Agatha reappears, tied to a post at the moment she is being tortured by two executioners: one of them strips her naked, while the other pulls out her breasts with pincers. Quintianus, the Roman prefect who, rejected by the saint, has ordered her dreadful torture, is watching the scene.
This painting in full Baroque style is paradigmatic of Francisco Rizi’s work. Firstly, the figures, with their notorious echoes of Rubens, follow his usual models. Secondly, the enhanced dynamism of the scene recalls his characteristic compositions. Finally, the sumptuous Venetian palette with a predominance of warm hues together with a highly sophisticated, loose, sparkling technique are the result of his original execution.
The painting fulfilled its devotional mission in the Church of the Trinitarios Calzados [Barefoot Trinitarians] in Madrid. It was assigned to the Museo de la Trinidad in the 19th century and eventually entered the collection of Spanish paintings at the Museo del Prado.
Busto Hevia, Gabino, 'Francisco Rizi. Santa Águeda' En: El factor Prado: los depósitos del Museo Nacional del Prado., Museo de Bellas Artes de Asturias,, 2022, p.66-69 nº 12
