Saint Lucy and Saint Eutychia at the Shrine of Saint Agatha

Cosimo Tura, the founder of the Ferrarese school of painting, created this scene of Saint Lucy and Saint Eutychia at the Shrine of Saint Agatha around 1484. Tura's angular, metallic, intensely expressive style defined Ferrarese painting for a generation. Working for the Este court in Ferrara, he created some of the most visually striking paintings of the Italian Quattrocento. The tempera medium required careful preparation on a gessoed panel and a disciplined layering technique that produced precise, durable surfaces suited to the intricate detail expected of devotional painting.

Tempera on panel with Tura's unmistakable angular figure style and metallic coloring. The sharp, almost crystalline quality of his forms and his intensely expressive faces are instantly recognizable.