Saint Lucy

Benedetto di Bindo's Saint Lucy, painted around 1410 and now in the Minneapolis Institute of Art, depicts the early Christian martyr from Syracuse who refused to marry a pagan suitor, was denounced to the Roman authorities, and was martyred around 304 AD. Lucy is conventionally shown holding her eyes on a plate or dish — her eyes were said to have been torn out during her torture, or she is said to have removed them voluntarily to end a suitor's admiration of them. Benedetto di Bindo was a refined late Gothic Sienese painter, and the saint panel is characteristic of his delicate style. Lucy was widely venerated across Italy and her representation in altarpieces was common.

Benedetto di Bindo renders Saint Lucy against a gold ground with the elegant linearity of the Sienese Gothic tradition. The saint's attribute — the eyes on their plate — is rendered with clear symbolic legibility. Her expression is calm and otherworldly, achieved through smooth modeling and downcast eyes.