ST. AGNES AND HER LAMB
Andrea del Sarto (1486-1531)
ne of the most beautiful pictures of "St. Agnes and her lamb" was painted by Andrea del Sarto,—"Andrea the faultless," as he was called. It is in the cathedral at Pisa.
St. Agnes was a Roman girl who lived three hundred years after the birth of Jesus. Her father and mother were heathens, but their little daughter became a Christian when a mere child. She did not tell her parents that she loved Jesus, but when she refused to worship idols they knew that she had become a disciple of the Master Christ. This made them so angry that they handed her over to the Roman rulers to be punished. These wicked men tried in every way to persuade Agnes to bow down to their gods made of wood and stone. When she would not bow down to them they tried to force her to worship the idols.
They gave her over to the soldiers and ordered them to take her clothes away, but immediately her hair grew and covered her, and angels came and gave her a shining white garment. She even refused to marry the son of the Roman magistrate. The son thought that he could compel her to consent to the marriage after she was persecuted, but he was struck blind when he tried to see her.
When St. Agnes saw what great sorrow came to the home of the young nobleman because he was blind, she prayed for him and his eyesight came again. His father was so thankful that he pleaded for her life, but the people said,
"She is a sorceress: she must die." Then they tried to burn her, but the flames burned her tormentors and did her no harm. At last she was killed with a sword. She is always represented with a lamb.
Michael Angelo wrote to Raphael about Andrea del Sarto: "There is a little fellow in Florence who, if he were employed as you are upon great works, would make it hot for you."