This is one of the several sketches that francisco de goya made before painting the painting of saints justa and rufina destined for the altar of the sacristy of the chalices of the cathedral of seville, (spain), where it still remains. The sevillian cathedral chapter commissioned the aforementioned painting from goya in 1817, and through the mediation of agustín ceán bermúdez, who was an art scholar and writer and a personal friend of goya. The holy potters, justa and rufina, who are the patron saints of seville, were martyred for having refused to worship an image of the goddess venus, and are always represented next to clay objects as a symbol of their profession and with the palms of martyrdom. In this work a lion meekly licks the foot of saint rufina, injured by having forced her to walk from the mountains to seville, and this city appears in the background, highlighting the giralda tower of the sevillian cathedral, which according to tradition was left standing due to the miraculous intervention of the saints during the earthquake that devastated seville in 1504. Object Type: painting. Genre: religious art. Date: 1817. Dimensions: height: 45 cm (17.7 in); width: 29 cm (11.4 in). Medium: oil on canvas. Collection: Museo del Prado. Las santas Justa y Rufina (boceto)
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