TINTORETTO
(b. 1518, Venezia, d. 1594, Venezia)

St Roch in Prison Visited by an Angel (detail)

1567
Oil on canvas
San Rocco, Venice

This painting is an unsentimental representation of the horrors of incarceration. The consoling angel stretches a hand out to the exhausted St Roch as his light of grace appears to redeem some, at least, of the prisoners from the darkness of their profound degradation.