After Antonio Allegri, called il Correggio, 
Italian 1489-1534- 
Saint Pudentia preserving the...

After Antonio Allegri, called il Correggio, 
Italian 1489-1534- 

Saint Pudentia preserving the blood of the martyrs; 

oil on panel, 33.6 x 26.2 cm. (unframed). 

Provenance: 
Private Collection, UK. 

Note: 
The present work appears to date to the early 18th century and was conceived after a painting formerly attributed to Correggio. Shown at half-length, the female saint is looking directly out at the viewer and clutching a sponge from which she squeezes blood into a chalice. A related etching by Pierre Ferdinand (Paris 1617-1665) [see British Museum no.1837,0408.565] indicates that she is Saint Pudentia, rather than her sister Saint Praxedes, who would be indistinguishable: both were 2nd-century Christian saints who reputedly collected the blood of the Roman martyrs with a sponge. The engraving presents in reverse format to this painting, and it is likely therefore that the present work was copied from an earlier, original composition in oils. Another version appeared recently at Bonhams, London, 17 December 2020, lot 32, as 'Circle of Correggio' (£29,000). 

Very little is known about Pudentia or Praxedes, who, according to Jacobus de Voragine's ‘The Golden Legend’, were the sisters of Saint Donatus and Saint Timothy. During one of the periods of persecution, they allegedly buried the bodies of Christians and distributed goods to the poor. De Voragine's brief account states they died in 165 ‘in the reign of Emperors Marcus and Antoninus II’. The two sisters were allegedly buried in adjoining graves in the catacomb of Priscilla, until they were moved in the 9th century by Pope Paschal I, to be housed in the rebuilt Basilica of Saint Praxedes in Rome.