Saint Andrew's efforts to introduce Christianity to Greece in the first century CE were met with hostility from local authorities, and he was sentenced to die on the cross because he refused to acknowledge pagan gods. For two days, Andrew preached from his martyr's station to an increasingly sympathetic crowd; bowing to public demand, his would-be executioners attempted to untie him, but their hands were mysteriously paralyzed, and Andrew's desire for martyrdom was thus fulfilled as he died enveloped in divine light. Caravaggio's innovative interpretation involves the viewer more closely in the event by presenting the crucifixion as intimate and private rather than as a gruesome public spectacle, with bold contrasts of light and dark suggesting the presence of God. A masterpiece of Baroque painting, this is the only altarpiece by Caravaggio in America.
Source: clevelandart.org
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