Louise and Martha

Pierre Daura (Pedro Francisco Daura y Garcia)

1934-1935

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This painting depicts an episode from the legend of the Four Crowned Martyrs who were Christian sculptors working for the Roman Emperor Diocletian When the sculptors refused to carve a statue of a pagan god Diocletian ordered that the sculptors be sealed alive in lead coffins and thrown into a river On the left Diocletian identified by his crown directs a group of men in the center to lift a coffin
A well dressed skeleton figure holds up scales to a crowd of bystanders with various expressions
A still life image in which a bulbous base with large flowers sits in the center of the composition It is surrounded by several vases pots notebooks and fruit
Scene of three cupids on the proper right side being approached by four cupids and a bacchus on the proper left side One cupid has animal hide over its head and body