In the last years of his life, Caravaggio spent a brief period in Syracuse, where he was commissioned to paint the canvas depicting “The Burial of St. Lucy” for the Church of Santa Lucia al Sepolcro in Syracuse. The masterpiece was completed in less than one month.
The scene’s tragedy is conferred by light: no longer oriented and uniform as in works from the Roman period, but more distressing and oppressive.
The lower part of the canvas depicts the saint’s tomb, while in the foreground, two gravediggers are vigorously digging the grave.
Their movements guide the observer’s gaze to the right, where there is a soldier and the bishop who blesses the martyr’s body, In the background a group of worshippers gather to bid a final farewell to the Saint
