When you visit the same museum a lot, you start to notice objects that seem unusual, or that really just stick out in the collection. One of those is Francesco Laurana’s marble sculpture of Saint Cyricus. It’s rare to see a sculpture of an infant with correct anatomical details, and the story behind Saint Cyricus’ martyrdom takes what could just be a rather creepy sculpture of an infant and puts the creepiness into overdrive.
From the Getty’s online catalog entry on the piece:
In 304 this Roman toddler was martyred at the age of two and a half years, along with his mother Saint Julitta, a Christian who refused to pray to “false idols.” According to legend, Saint Cyricus endured brutal tortures: sawing in half, flaying, and boiling in a cauldron. These episodes may have inspired both the unusual half-length form of this representation and the oval plinth, which recalls the shape of a cauldron.
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