Scuola Renana, The Martyrdom of Saints Simon and Jude

1370-75
Oil and gold on wood panel
Pinacoteca Vaticana, Rome

This image closely follows the Golden Legend's account of the deaths of the two Apostles. The table-like structure with the cart is the Temple of the Sun in Samir. The naked black figures are the demons whom the saints have commanded to destroy the idols, that is, the golden images of the sun and moon. In the foreground, Simon and Jude are slaughtered by a multitude of priests. (The Legend says there were 70.)

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Photographed at the Pinacoteca Vaticana by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.