CARAVAGGIO
(b. 1571, Caravaggio, d. 1610, Porto Ercole)

Burial of St Lucy (detail)

1608
Oil on canvas
Bellomo Museum, Syracuse

The saint is lying in dismal darkness on the bare floor of a bleak vault. She is being confirmed by a bishop and mourned by pious worshipers. Her dark eyesockets are allusions to her martyrdom (she sacrificed her eyes in her martyrdom).