Saint Agatha Attended by Saint Peter and an Angel in Prison

Description According to an early Christian legend, when a 3rd-century Roman official of Sicily desired the Christian woman Agatha, and she refused to yield to his advances, he had her tortured, and even ordered her breasts cut off. At night in prison, she was visited by a vision of Saint Peter and an angel, and her breasts were miraculously restored. The gray stone of the prison wall was created by letting the slate show through, and it forms a background for the night scene, illuminated by a torch. As opposed to canvas and wood, slate gave a painting almost unlimited durability and the same kind of permanence as sculpture. For more information on this painting, please see Federico Zeri's 1976 catalogue no. 315, pp. 443-444.

Conservation

Date	Description	Narrative
1/01/1900	Examination	examined for condition
3/09/1943	Treatment	varnish removed or reduced
3/18/1986	Treatment	inpainted
1/24/1999	Examination	examined for loan

Exhibitions

• Going for Baroque. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1995-1996.
• Alessandro Turchi : detto l'Orbetto 1578-1649. Museo di Castelvecchio, Verona. 1999.

Provenance Hood Blackwood, England, mid 18th century [mode of acquisition unknown]; Ann Blackwood Madox (Mrs. E. Madox), England, late 18th century, by gift; Henry Walters, Baltimore, prior to 1909 [mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Inscriptions [Transcription] On wooden backing which holds the picture int he frame: This picture is the property of Anne Hood Blackwood given by her father, Hood Blackwood, April ye 18th, 178-, now Mrs. E. Madox 1791; [Inscriptions] On wooden backing are severl labels which tell the legend of St. Agatha

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters, before 1909