Saint Margaret of Antioch, full-length, holding a shepherd's crook and a bible

Zurbarán's female saints were immensely popular during his lifetime, and his workshop produced several versions of his compositions, often painted as series, to meet this considerable demand. This unpublished painting belongs to the group of studio paintings that were inspired by the master's Saint Margaret of Antioch (London, National Gallery), which Zurbarán probably painted as an independent composition in the early to mid-1630s. As in the other known, full-length, versions (see O. Delenda and A. Ros de Barbero, Francisco de Zurbarán, 1598-1664, II, Madrid, 2010, pp. 414-15, nos. II-130-32), Saint Margaret's dragon, which is included in the prototype, is no longer present in this painting, though the saint retains her theatrical shepherdess's attire, including her crook and saddlebag. An old inscritption on the canvas identifies the subject of the painting as Saint Marina of Aguas Santas, a Spanish saint whose legend was often conflated with that of Saint Margaret's in the seventeenth century. The inclusion of the landscape distinguishes this painting from the other known examples, and serves to heighten the impression that the figure is moving across the picture plane.