Behold This Woman

My painting has been adapted from Emilio Franceschi's poignant 19th-century bronze sculpture Eulalia Christiana, portraying the martyrdom of the young Eulalia in the 4th-century. Although Franceschi strayed from historical accuracy - Eulalia was no older than fourteen when she died - his portrayal of a mature woman did allow me to expand the theme to suggest through Eulalia's suffering a wronged Everywoman. It was the occupying Roman authorities of the time who tortured, staked and burned Eulalia for her refusal to sacrifice to their pagan gods. But in a tragic mirroring of history, almost exactly a century later, it was the pagan philosopher and mathematician Hypatia of Alexandria, one of the most enlightened minds of her age, who was murdered with bestial cruelty, being [1]stripped and flayed alive with broken [2]roof tiles by zealous Christian monks at the altar of their own church.

Two women in history, both [3]martyred. But was it really for their different religious beliefs, or were they more the victims of a dark and frenzied misogyny? The cruelties perpetrated against these two women by sadistic and sanctimonious men leaves nothing to choose between either Roman governor or Christian monk.


Notes:
[1] To be historically accurate: I am aware that Eulalia also would have been stripped before her execution, as were all such condemned victims, both men and women. But I could not bring myself to portray her naked in such an in extremis situation. She already had been deprived of her dignity, and was being deprived of her very life, and I feel that my painting as it is still conveys what I wish it to.

[2] Some sources put broken abalone shells into the monks' hands. It's a question of translation, and the result is equally horrific.

[3] My post about the martyrdom of Eulalia can be read in The Sheltering Snow.