Martyrdom of Saint Margaret

Giuseppe Cesari, called Cavaliere d'Arpino

National Gallery of Art

A young woman with long blond hair kneels in front of a crowd of about two dozen people, mostly men, under a heavenly group on cloudbanks overhead in this vertical painting. They all have pale or tanned skin. At the bottom center, the young woman, Saint Margaret, kneels facing us as she tips her head down and to our right, her fingertips pressed together in prayer. Her cloak shimmers from pale yellow to coral red over an olive-green gown edged with sapphire blue. A thin gold halo floats over her loose, waist-length hair. A muscular, bare-chested man to our right unsheathes a sword as he twists toward Saint Margaret. An armored man to our right rests one hand on a white and gold shield, which pins dragon to the ground. Another man is on horseback in the crowd beyond, and the rest appear to stand. Some hold halberds and spears. A rocky outcropping rises to our left, and a gray building is in the distance to our right. A woman holding a baby, Mary and Jesus, and two bearded men sit in a cloud bank in the top half of the picture. One man holds an oversized key and the other a sword. They and the people below wear robes and cloaks in tones of golden yellow, royal blue, dark rose pink, or shades of gray and brown. A winged angel holding a crown of leaves and a palm frond flies between the two groups, and more blond-haired angels hover above. Two baby-like putti scatter flowers over Mary. The artist signed the work in the lower left corner as if he had written his name on a rock. It reads, “IOSEPHVS CAESAR ARPINAS.”