1577 · Madonna dell'Orto, Venice

The fifteen-year-old Agnes rejected the advances of Licinius, son of the Roman prefect, on the grounds that she was the bride of Christ, and was thereupon taken away to a brothel. When Licinius came with his companions to rape her, God struck him dead. At the pleas of the prefect - shown here clad in majestic red - Agnes brought him back to life through her prayers, but was then executed as a witch.Show more