Detail of The Martyrdom of Saint Barbara by Cranach in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, December 2007

The Martyrdom of Saint Barbara, ca. 1510
Lucas Cranach the Elder (German, 1472–1553)
Oil on wood; Overall 60 3/8 x 54 1/4 in. (153.4 x 137.8 cm); painted surface 59 3/8 x 53 1/8 in. (150.8 x 134.9 cm)
Rogers Fund, 1957 (57.22)

According to legend, Saint Barbara was executed by her father when she refused to recant her Christian faith. The four sinister-looking witnesses may be the Roman authorities who tortured Barbara in an attempt to persuade her to sacrifice to pagan gods. Cranach painted this panel in about 1510, presumably for the Rehm family of Augsburg, whose coat of arms may be identified in the lower right corner.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/Works_of_Art/viewOne.asp?dep=11&vie...