If you are familiar with christian iconography (“the language of images”), it is easy to identify saints in religious paintings. Usually Saints carry symbols which relate to their often very gruesome fate: the martyrdom.<\/p>\n
In our painting Saint Apollonia is easy to identify: according to legend, her martyrdom\u00a0included having all of her\u00a0teeth\u00a0violently pulled out or shattered. For this reason, she is popularly regarded as the\u00a0patroness\u00a0of\u00a0dentistry\u00a0and those suffering from\u00a0toothache\u00a0or other dental problems. In our painting she carries forceps holding a tooth.<\/p>\n
The second woman, Saint Dorothy, is also easy to identify when you know the language of christian imagery.\u00a0According to tradition, she was a resident of Caesarea, \u00a0Cappadocia, a landscape in today Turkey, who when she refused to\u00a0sacrifice\u00a0to the gods during Emperor Diocletian’s\u00a0persecution\u00a0of the Christians, was tortured by the governor and ordered executed.<\/p>\n
On the way to the place of execution, she met a young lawyer, Theophilus, who mockingly asked her to send him fruits from “the garden” she had joyously announced she would soon be in. When she knelt for her execution, she prayed, and an\u00a0angel\u00a0with a basket of three roses and three apples, which she sent to Theophilus, telling him she would meet him in the garden. In our painting she carries the very same basked with roses and three apples.<\/p>\n
But the third Saint in the painting remains a mystery. She just carries a palm branch, representing\u00a0the victory of\u00a0martyrs in general, or the victory of the spirit over the flesh. This symbol is so wide spread and so unspecific that we cannot tell who the Saint in the painting actually is.<\/p>\n
It’s now up to you to recreate the story – and maybe to come up with\u00a0your own story for the unknown Saint!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If you are familiar with christian iconography (“the language of images”), it is easy to identify saints in religious paintings. Usually Saints carry symbols which relate to their often very gruesome fate: the martyrdom. In our painting Saint Apollonia is easy to identify: according to legend, her martyrdom\u00a0included having all of her\u00a0teeth\u00a0violently pulled out or … Continue reading Saint Apollonia, Saint Dorothy and an Unknown Female Saint<\/span>