Originally painted for the Oratory of Santa Croce in Castel Bolognese, this work recounts the martyrdom of Saint Peter of Verona, a Dominican inquisitor and fervent opponent of heresy, murdered in an ambush by Carino of Balsamo.
The brutality of the scene—sword in the chest, dagger in the skull—is tempered by the saint’s serene, almost Apollonian composure. Overhead, two cherubs observe with curiosity, while the broken tree trunk echoes the saint’s heroic stance.
In the wooded landscape that frames the scene, a fleeing figure—likely the assassin—tries to vanish, as if unwilling to disturb the fragile balance of a nature softly rendered in hues of green and blue.
