Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index

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Title: Torture of St. Barbara
Creator: Francke Meister, painter
Description: Barbara's "vita" is not included in Voragine's Golden Legend, but in the Byzantine "Menologion" (10th c.), which the Teutonic Knights had copied ca. 1300. Barbara was a virginal young woman whose pagan father, Dioscorus, locked her in a tower at her request so that she be kept from men. While in the tower she rejects Dioscorus's idols and converts to Christianity. Her father brings her before a pagan judge who sentences her to be tortured. She is flogged and her breasts are cut off. After her torture she is led to the town of Dallasion where Dioscorus beheads her. Here the flogging and the cutting of Barbara's breasts seem to occur at the same time. Her body appears unmarked and beautiful, and she keeps her eyes to heaven. To the left Dioscuros watches his daughter's torture and holds the sword that he will use to execute her.
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Rights: Public domain
Subject (See Also): Barbara, Martyr, Saint Breasts Hagiography Martyrs Torture
Geographic Area: Low Countries
Century: 15
Date: 1405-1415
Related Work: St. Barbara Altarpiece; all eight panels available from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Barbara_Altarpiece
Current Location: Helsinki, National Museum of Finland
Original Location: Turku, Cathedral (discovered 1874 in village church of Kalanti—possibly moved during the Reformation)
Artistic Type (Category): Digital images; Paintings
Artistic Type (Material/Technique): Wood; Oil; Altarpiece panel (exterior of inner wing)
Donor: Male religious; Bishop of Turku
Height/Width/Length(cm): 200 cm/260 cm/
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