Saint Lucia Flemish School, Malines workshop Early 16th century 86 cm (H) x 32 cm (W) Sculpture in polychrome, gilded gessoed oak From the Santa Luzia Church, Funchal MASF351

This sculpture comes from the old Santa Luzia Church in Funchal, founded at the end of the 15th century/early 16th century by a grandson of Gonçalo Aires Ferreira, one of the pioneer settlers of the Island, a man of the house of Prince Henry.
The Old Church of Santa Luzia was destroyed in the mid-18th century to make room for the present-day construction. The image entered the Museum's collections in 1994.
It represents the Holy Martyr wearing courtiers' dress, alluding to her high social class and the goods she had to divest herself of to embrace the Christian Faith.
The back is hollowed out; the image still retains a significant part of its original polychrome and gilded finish.
The oval-shaped head has a high forehead, with a small nose, mouth and chin, as is typical of the production of these workshops. It must be part of the Malines production, as a work of a superior atelier, by the size and the plastic quality of the modelling.
The position of the arms indicates that the figure, with her right arm, held her attribute, a tray with her eyes, and with her left hand, a palm branch, symbol of her martyrdom.