Die Heilige Agnes erweckt Licinius

Saint Agnes Reviving Licinius, painted around 1556 and now in the Gemäldegalerie Berlin, depicts one of the most dramatic miracles in the life of the early Roman martyr Agnes — the raising of the dead son of the prefect who had persecuted her. Agnes, martyred around 304 AD at the age of twelve or thirteen for refusing to renounce her virginity and her faith, was among the most beloved early Christian martyrs, her name incorporated into the Roman Canon of the Mass; the miracle of raising Licinius, which Augustine of Hippo discusses in his City of God, added a resurrection dimension to her narrative that amplified her theological significance. Tintoretto's treatment in 1556 belongs to his most inventive middle period, when he was developing the dramatic spatial foreshortening and diagonal light effects that would reach their fullest expression in the Scuola di San Rocco cycle a decade later. The Gemäldegalerie Berlin's remarkable collection of European painting from the thirteenth through eighteenth centuries was assembled through the Prussian royal collections and subsequent acquisitions, holding this Tintoretto as part of one of the world's most comprehensive surveys of Italian Renaissance painting.

The miracle scene is staged with Tintoretto's characteristic dramatic chiaroscuro, with the saint and the revived figure illuminated by supernatural light against a dark background. The dynamic composition and the expressive gestures of the witnesses create a sense of awe and astonishment, while the bold brushwork conveys the urgency of the miraculous event.