{"secondaryobjectnumber":null,"periodterms":[],"creditline":"Museum purchase, Fowler McCormick, Class of 1921, Fund","caption":"Pietro da Cortona (Pietro Berrettini) (Italian, 1596 - 1669), Saint Martina Refuses to Adore the Idols, 1654–60. Oil on canvas; 104 × 86 cm, 130.2 × 111.8 × 6.7 cm (frame). Museum purchase, Fowler McCormick, Class of 1921, Fund (1998-38)","cultureterms":[{"id":2031625,"culture":"Italian"}],"type":"artobject","dimensionsproposed":"","terms":[{"id":2053145,"term":"oil paintings","aatid":300033799,"termtype":"Classification"},{"id":2097045,"term":"Christianity","aatid":300073711,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2097422,"term":"heaven","aatid":300185658,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2031625,"term":"Italian","aatid":300111198,"termtype":"Culture"},{"id":2055657,"term":"figures (representations)","aatid":300189808,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2083378,"term":"obelisks","aatid":300007021,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2088280,"term":"women","aatid":300025943,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2159231,"term":"putti","aatid":300250465,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2095114,"term":"martyrs","aatid":300188714,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2095174,"term":"saints","aatid":300150555,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2052977,"term":"paintings","aatid":300033618,"termtype":"Classification"},{"id":2051756,"term":"idols","aatid":300178240,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2133987,"term":"bible stories","aatid":null,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2095964,"term":"religious art","aatid":300248179,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2171344,"term":"canvas","aatid":null,"termtype":"Materials"},{"id":2167780,"term":"oil paint","aatid":300015050,"termtype":"Materials"}],"geography":[],"dimensionelements":[{"element":"frame","type":"Height","units":"centimeters","dimension":"130.17"},{"element":"frame","type":"Width","units":"centimeters","dimension":"111.75"},{"element":"frame","type":"Depth","units":"centimeters","dimension":"6.66"},{"element":"Overall","type":"Height","units":"centimeters","dimension":"104.00"},{"element":"Overall","type":"Width","units":"centimeters","dimension":"86.00"}],"markings":null,"accessionyear":"1998-01-01","newaccession":0,"makers":[{"id":3034,"displayname":"Pietro da Cortona (Pietro Berrettini)","displaydate":"Italian, 1596 - 1669","datebegin":1596,"dateend":1669,"prefix":null,"suffix":null,"role":"Artist","displaymaker":"Pietro da Cortona (Pietro Berrettini), Italian, 1596 - 1669","displayorder":1}],"datecomputed":1657,"signed":null,"restrictions":null,"classification":"Paintings","packages":[{"packageid":181904,"name":"CRS_2020_MUS346/ECS346_04_01"},{"packageid":210962,"name":"Z_JS European On View 10 years"},{"packageid":182999,"name":"image_descriptions_eps_painitings"},{"packageid":185949,"name":"CRS_2020_BRInternTalk"},{"packageid":118866,"name":"CRS_ART100_2017_10_16"},{"packageid":229546,"name":"2023_HIS400_10_23"},{"packageid":246533,"name":"EPS Provenance Nazi-era gaps"},{"packageid":167646,"name":"web_highlights"},{"packageid":197269,"name":"web_highlights -revised 2021"},{"packageid":128064,"name":"web_2018_migrations_interventions"},{"packageid":123,"name":"Web_Provenance"},{"packageid":276252,"name":"Nazi Era Sept 2025 list for web"},{"packageid":181958,"name":"web_2020_K1-3"},{"packageid":207234,"name":"SAB_Gala2021"}],"catalograisonne":null,"classifications":[{"id":2053145,"classification":"oil paintings"},{"id":2052977,"classification":"paintings"}],"exhibitions":[{"exhibitionid":961,"citation":"An Educated Eye: The Princeton University Art Museum Collection (Friday, February 22, 2008 - Sunday, June 15, 2008)","isvirtual":true,"begindate":"2008-02-22","enddate":"2008-06-15","uri":"https://artmuseum.princeton.edu/art/exhibitions/961"}],"cultures":[],"primaryimage":["https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/1998-38"],"displaytitle":"Saint Martina Refuses to Adore the Idols","displayculture":null,"displaymaker":"Pietro da Cortona (Pietro Berrettini), Italian, 1596 - 1669","captionhtml":"Pietro da Cortona (Pietro Berrettini) (Italian, 1596 - 1669), <i>Saint Martina Refuses to Adore the Idols</i>, 1654–60. Oil on canvas; 104 × 86 cm, 130.2 × 111.8 × 6.7 cm (frame). Museum purchase, Fowler McCormick, Class of 1921, Fund (1998-38)","displaydate":"1654–60","medium":"Oil on canvas","media":[{"id":1650,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/1998-38","isprimary":1,"rank":1,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":null,"caption":"Luna Digitization Project"}],"displayperiod":null,"extended_content":false,"campuscollections":"false","bibliography":[{"boilertext":"<i>Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collections </i>(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2013)","citation":"<i>Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collections </i>(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2013), p. 195","date":2013,"id":1994,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/865020505"},{"boilertext":"Guiliano Briganti, <em>Pietro da Cortona, o, Della pittura barocca</em>, (Firenze: Sansoni, 1982).","citation":"Guiliano Briganti, <em>Pietro da Cortona, o, Della pittura barocca</em>, (Firenze: Sansoni, 1982)., p. 259, cat. no. 130; no. 272 (illus.)","date":1982,"id":5186,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/9083473"},{"boilertext":"\"Acquisitions of the Art Museum 1998,\" <em>Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University </em>58, no. 1/2 (1999): p. 86-123.","citation":"\"Acquisitions of the Art Museum 1998,\" <em>Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University </em>58, no. 1/2 (1999): p. 86-123., p. 86, p. 87 (illus.)","date":1999,"id":3044,"uri":"https://www.jstor.org/stable/3774795"},{"boilertext":"Jörg Martin Merz, \"\"Saint Martina Refuses to Adore the Idols:\" Pietro da Cortona's painting at Princeton in context,\" <EM>Record of the Princeton University Art Museum</EM> 62 (2003): p. 84–104.","citation":"Jörg Martin Merz, \"\"Saint Martina Refuses to Adore the Idols:\" Pietro da Cortona's painting at Princeton in context,\" <EM>Record of the Princeton University Art Museum</EM> 62 (2003): p. 84–104., p. 84, fig. 1","date":2003,"id":3020,"uri":"https://www.jstor.org/stable/3774822"},{"boilertext":"Norman E. Muller, \"Technical note,\" <em>Record of the Princeton University Art Museum</em> 62 (2003): 105.","citation":"Norman E. Muller, \"Technical note,\" <em>Record of the Princeton University Art Museum</em> 62 (2003): 105., p. 105, fig. 1","date":2003,"id":3021,"uri":"https://www.jstor.org/stable/3774823"},{"boilertext":"<i>Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collection</i> (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007)","citation":"<i>Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collection</i> (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007), p. 189 (illus.)","date":2007,"id":474,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/191864564"}],"nowebuse":"False","periods":[],"department":"European Painting and Sculpture ","attribute_groups":[{"id":2199321,"term":"European Art","termtype":"Collecting Area"},{"id":2199338,"term":"Nazi-era gaps","termtype":"Provenance & Cultural Heritage"}],"daterange":"A.D. 1600-1700","dateend":1660,"depicted":[],"titles":[{"title":"Saint Martina Refuses to Adore the Idols","titletype":"Primary Title","displayorder":1}],"hasimage":"true","creditlinerepro":"","objectnumber":"1998-38","inscribed":null,"texts":[{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Gallery Label","textentryhtml":"As <EM>principe</EM> of the Academy of Saint Luke, the artists’ association, Cortona undertook excavations beneath the Academy’s church, Santi Luca e Martina, beside the Roman Forum, and discovered Martina’s relics. He guarded them overnight and became devoted to her.<BR><BR>This painting was apparently offered to Cardinal Barberini in thanks for donations to refurbish Santi Luca e Martina. The saint kneels on a pile of instruments of martyrdom—a clawed rake to rip her flesh and the pyre on which the Romans tried to burn her. The idol to which she refused to sacrifice and the tripod for the sacrifice are toppled by lightning, to the pagans’ consternation. The sword used for her beheading lies ready on the ground.","remarks":"K1-3 May 2012; Kienbusch_labels_31616.pdf"},{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Provenance","textentryhtml":"Cardinal Francesco Seniore Barberini, Rome (?until 1679; by descent to Carlo Barberini); ?Cardinal Carlo Barberini, Rome (until 1704; possibly no. 335 in inventory of 1690s; by descent to Francesco Giuniore Barberini); ?Cardinal Francesco Giuniore Barberini, Rome (until 1738; possibly no. 239 in inventory of 1738/1739); private collection, Florence (1920s); private collection, Ohio (before 1998); Studio Novo Limited, London (in 1998; sold to Princeton University Art Museum).","remarks":"Migrated from 9.35 12/2013"},{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Handbook Entry","textentryhtml":"\r\nThe relics of Saint Martina were found in 1634 beneath the church of Saints Luca and Martina, which Pietro da Cortona renovated during the pontificate of Urban VIII; the painting was most likely in the Barberini Collection and made for Cardinal Francesco Barberini, the pope’s nephew, patron of the Academy and sponsor of the restoration of Saints Luca and Martina. Martina was one of the Roman virgin martyr saints who died for their faith before &shy;Christianity became the state religion under Emperor Constantine in a.d. 313. The painting combines allusions to events usually portrayed in narrative cycles. Martina refuses to sacrifice to pagan idols and kneels on the objects employed in attempts to torture her — the pyre and the iron rod used to tear her flesh. Also in the trophy-like pile are the fasces, symbol of the Roman state, and the sword eventually used to behead the saint. A tripod with flames awaits the sacrifice. Suddenly the heavens open, rays of light and cherubim appear, and a pagan idol, at the left, topples back&shy;ward. The saint looks heaven&shy;ward, toward the inspiring vision of paradise; she will go forward confidently to her martyrdom. </P></SPAN>","remarks":null},{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Campus Voices","textentryhtml":"<P>Seventeenth-century pilgrims flocking to Rome during the Holy Years (celebrated by the Roman Catholic Church every twenty-five years) found the great churches newly linked by wide avenues thanks to the progressive urban projects of Pope Sixtus V, which made the city a model for the great capitals of Europe. The church of Saint Martina and those of other Roman virgin martyr saints of the Early Christian era were refurbished during the Catholic Reformation. As the church emphasized the primacy of Rome, these women saints, who consecrated the pagan city with their blood, took on renewed importance. </P>\r\n<P>Betsy Rosasco, Research Curator of European Painting and Sculpture</P>\r\n<P>&nbsp;</P>","remarks":"Migrations Faculty Voices"}],"datebegin":1654,"sortnumber":"1998   38","published_date":"2026-02-11 10:54:26.393353","objectid":37626,"dimensions":"104 × 86 cm (40 15/16 × 33 7/8 in.)\r\nframe: 130.2 × 111.8 × 6.7 cm (51 1/4 × 44 × 2 5/8 in.)","on_view":false}