A Procession of Virgin Martyrs -Francisco de Zurbaràn

There are two full length, life size female portraits in the Hispanic Society's collection in New York hanging amongst their Spanish Golden Age masterworks section. The two portraits appear almost as pendants painted using the same color palette, with both figures composed in a similar pose looking up towards the same point outside the picture frame.   These two figures are actually, Saint Lucy, ca. 1630  and Saint Rufina, ca. 1635, by Francisco de Zurbaràn.  

Renowned for his monastic commissions, (I wrote in depth about this in an earlier post) the most popular works from Zurbaràn's oeuvre were his series of female saints.  Also known as the virgin martyrs, each one comes with a very interesting legend attached to their name. Saint Lucy’s name Lucia, means light in Latin and it is supposed to herald the Light of the World, which is why she is appealed to against disorders of the eye and carries her eyes as her attributes.  There are also embellished versions of her story where she rips out her eyes to send them to her suitor. Saint Rufina, who was martyred in Seville in the 3^rd century, was a potter who refused to sell her wares to be used for a pagan celebration and as a result was executed for being a Christian.