Francesco Cairo

Possibly the painting mentioned in the inventory made after the artist's death: ‘Un Martirio di S. Eufemia entro a Leoni alto Br. 4. largo Br. 4. opra del Cavagl.e.’ (no. 252 in the posthumous inventory dated 29 July 1665);
Private collection, UK;
With Galerie Canesso, Paris and Lugano.

F. Frangi, ‘Francesco Cairo, Alessandro Tiarini e la strana storia delle ante di Sant' Eufemia a Milano’, in Nuovi Studi, 2005, 11, pp. 249–63;
V. Damian, Deux tableaux de la collection Sannesi. Tableaux des écoles émilienne et lombarde, Galerie Canesso, Paris 2006, pp. 50–55;
V. Damian in Dipinti del Seicento. Influssi caravaggeschi tra Lombardia e Napoli, Galleria Canesso, Lugano 2013, pp. 40–47.

The martyrdom of Saint Euphemia is a rare subject in painting but was described in some detail by Jacopo da Voragine in the Golden Legend. Euphemia was a maiden during the reign of Diocletian, and was martyred in 303 CE at Chalcedon for refusing to make sacrifices at Aries. She was thrown 'into a pit where there were three wild beasts so ferocious that they would swallow any man', but she was unharmed, in the same way that Daniel had survived in the Old Testament story. An executioner was then sent to kill the maiden. To reward him for his service the judge draped him in a silk garment and girded him with a gold belt, but as the man went out, he was snatched by a lion and devoured.