The Burial of St. Petronilla is an altarpiece painted by Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (Guercino) around 1623. It simultaneously depicts the burial and the welcoming to heaven of the martyred St. Petronilla. The altarpiece was painted for St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, for a chapel dedicated to the saint and containing her relics. It is now on display in the Musei Capitolini of Rome.
Petronilla, whose name means "little rock", is popularly believed ...
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The Burial of St. Petronilla is an altarpiece painted by Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (Guercino) around 1623. It simultaneously depicts the burial and the welcoming to heaven of the martyred St. Petronilla. The altarpiece was painted for St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, for a chapel dedicated to the saint and containing her relics. It is now on display in the Musei Capitolini of Rome.
Petronilla, whose name means "little rock", is popularly believed to have been the daughter of St. Peter, whose Greek name, Petros, means "rock". Her relics had rested in the catacombs of Rome until 1606, when they were transferred to the cathedral church dedicated to her father.
The painting is a dramatic, larger-than-life portrayal of St. Petronilla's martyrdom. The representation Guercino created emphasizes St. Petronilla's devotion to God above all, but also to the Church and the reward with which she met upon her death.
The painted narrative occurs on two tiers, Heaven and Earth. Petronilla is seen...
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