The Palazzo Bellomo Altarpiece of St. Barbara: Detail, The Pagans Try to Burn the Saint at the Stake

16th century
Oil on panel
Palazzo Bellomo, Syracuse, Sicily

While two pagans stoke the fire an angel flies in to St. Barbara's rescue. The attempted burning of Barbara at a stake is an unusual detail. Other sources are like Caxton at this point: "Then the judge, replenished of ire, commanded that she should be hanged between two forked trees, and that they should break her reins [kidneys or sinews] with staves, and burn her sides with burning lamps…."

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Photographed at the site by Claire Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.