# The Martyrdom of St Barbara [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [CRANACH, Lucas the Elder]() - Date: 1501-1550 - Technique: Oil on linden panel, 152 x 135 cm ## Commentary The Martyrdom of St Barbara c. 1510 Oil on linden panel, 152 x 135 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Saint Barbara was a Christian saint and martyr who died at Nicomedia in today's Turkey c. 306 C.E. She won particular fame for the horrifying fact that her death sentence by beheading was carried out by her own father, a wealthy pagan who had first isolated her in a tower and then denounced her to the Roman authorities when she became a Christian. Her death was attended by numerous miracles, most impressively her father being struck dead by lightning after killing her. Cranach's painting shows a luxuriously dressed Barbara kneeling before her father, who raises his sword to behead her. ## Related artworks - [A Faun and his Family with a Slain Lion \(detail\)]() - [A Faun and his Family with a Slain Lion]() - [A Prince of Saxony]() - [A Princess of Saxony]() - [Adam and Eve \(detail\)]() - [Adam and Eve]() - [Adam and Eve]() - [Adam and Eve]() - [Adam and Eve]() - [Adam and Eve]() - [Adam and Eve]() - [Adam and Eve]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()