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LIPPI, Filippino: Torture of St John the Evangelist

🖼 Torture of St John the Evangelist, 1487-1502
Fresco
Florence, Italy

Boiling oil engulfs Saint John while soldiers torment him in dynamic, muscular forms rendered through bold perspective. Renaissance Florence celebrated Christian martyrdom as ultimate spiritual triumph, making Lippi's visceral scene a powerful devotional statement for the chapel's patrons.

The story of art
The story of art
E. H. Gombrich
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