Heilige Reparata vor Kaiser Decius

Brought before the Roman Emperor Decius (ruled 249-51 A.D.), the young Palestinian Christian Reparata refuses to make sacrifices to the Roman pantheon of gods, offering instead to burn herself as a sacrifice to Christ. In other panels belonging to the same altarpiece as this one, she is shown tortured and then beheaded. Daddi's narrative gifts and love of richly decorated surfaces are all in evidence in this panel from an altarpiece destined for the cathedral of Florence. Note how the faces of her tormentors have been scratched by outraged viewers!