Martyrdom of Four Saints
Encyclopedia
The Martyrdom of Four Saints is an oil on canvas
painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Correggio, dating from around 1524 and housed in the Galleria Nazionale
of Parma
, Italy
.
in the first edition of his Lives (1550).
The subject of the painting, rather rare in western religious art, is the martyrdom of Placidus and his sister Flavia (who had allegedly lived in the 4th century) and, behind them, that of two earlier Roman siblings, Eutychius and Victorinus, who appears as having been already beheaded. An angel flyies above them and holds the martyrdom's palm.
Oil painting
Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments that are bound with a medium of drying oil—especially in early modern Europe, linseed oil. Often an oil such as linseed was boiled with a resin such as pine resin or even frankincense; these were called 'varnishes' and were prized for their body...
painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Correggio, dating from around 1524 and housed in the Galleria Nazionale
Galleria nazionale di Parma
The Galleria nazionale di Parma is an art gallery in Parma, northern Italy.Painters exhibited include Beato Angelico, Canaletto, Correggio, Sebastiano del Piombo, Guercino, Leonardo da Vinci, Parmigianino, Tintoretto and others.-History:...
of Parma
Parma
Parma is a city in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna famous for its ham, its cheese, its architecture and the fine countryside around it. This is the home of the University of Parma, one of the oldest universities in the world....
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
.
History
The work is one of the canvasses commissioned by Parmesan noble Placido Del Bono for a chapel in the church of San Giovanni Evangelista in Parma. They are mentioned (although wrongly assigned to the city's cathedral by late Renaissance art biographer Giorgio VasariGiorgio Vasari
Giorgio Vasari was an Italian painter, writer, historian, and architect, who is famous today for his biographies of Italian artists, considered the ideological foundation of art-historical writing.-Biography:...
in the first edition of his Lives (1550).
The subject of the painting, rather rare in western religious art, is the martyrdom of Placidus and his sister Flavia (who had allegedly lived in the 4th century) and, behind them, that of two earlier Roman siblings, Eutychius and Victorinus, who appears as having been already beheaded. An angel flyies above them and holds the martyrdom's palm.