 |
| Francisco de Zurbaràn, Saint Rufina, 1635 |
 |
| Francisco de Zurbaràn, Saint Rufina, 1635 |
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 3rd 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.
