Saints Roch, Anthony Abbot and Lucy

Cima's Saints Roch, Anthony Abbot, and Lucy (1513) is a votive altarpiece invoking the two plague saints — Roch and Sebastian being the most common combination, but here Anthony Abbot replaces Sebastian — alongside Lucy, the patron of eyesight. The combination of plague saints with Lucy may suggest a commission from a confraternity concerned with both epidemic protection and the specific medical condition of eye disease. Cima's votive altarpieces of protective saints reflect the real anxieties of the Venetian population and the practical function of religious images as instruments of specific intercessory petitions rather than merely devotional contemplation.

Cima renders the three saints with the clear characterization and careful attention to attributes that makes his devotional paintings so legible. Each figure is individually distinguished through costume, attribute, and expression, while the overall composition maintains the balanced harmony of his late style.