SAINT APOLLONIA

The painting of Saint Apollonia, shown with the traditional iconographic detail of the pliers used to pull out her teeth, can be considered an integral part of the series of canvasses executed in the mid-17th century by Giovan Battista Salvi, called il Sassoferrato. The model used in this case is Timoteo Viti’s Sant’Apollonia, now in the national Gallery of the Marches in Urbino. Choosing a painting by Viti as his model, a painter from the Marche region strongly influenced by Vannucci, seems in keeping with Sassoferrato’s taste, as he was particularly inclined to propose a modern interpretation of the images and prototypes of the culture of Raphael and Perugino.