# Matyrdom of St Rufina and St Seconda [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [PROCACCINI, Giulio Cesare]() - Date: 1601-1650 - Technique: Oil on canvas, 192 x 192 cm ## Commentary Matyrdom of St Rufina and St Seconda c. 1625 Oil on canvas, 192 x 192 cm Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan This painting is commonly referred to as the Three-hand Painting \("Quadro delle tre mani"\) as it was made simultaneously by three painters: Giulio Cesare Procaccini, from Emilia but who moved to Milan when very young, and Giovanni Battista Crespi \(Il Cerano\) and Morazzone from Lombardy, two of the finest painters in the Lombard school between the 16th and 17th centuries. They managed to transform this painting, refusing the rigid models of the Counter-Reformation by adopting a dynamic, expressive approach which was sometimes clearly theatrical. The painting shows the martyrdom of two saints: Rufina, who is still alive, is shown just an instant before the executioner's sword strikes her white neck. She is comforted by an angel who, with a hand pointing up towards the sky, appears to reassure her of the reward which will soon be hers for her suffering on earth. The other saint is Seconda, who lies already decapitated. ## Related artworks - [Ecce Homo]() - [Holy Family]() - [Holy Family with John the Baptist and an Angel]() - [Holy Family with the Young St John the Baptist]() - [Madonna and Child with Sts Francis and Dominic and Angels]() - [Matyrdom of St Rufina and St Seconda \(detail\)]() - [St Sebastian Tended by Angels]() - [The Annunciation]() - [The Martyrdom of St Sebastian]() - [The Mystic Marriage of St Catherine]() - [The Mystic Marriage of St Catherine]() - [The Virgin and Child with the Infant St John the Baptist and Attendant Angels]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()