The large eighteenth-century canvas, which originally found its place on one of the side altars of the church of S. Giuseppe in Lipari, depicts together some saints from different eras elected by the Liparians as patron saints of the Aeolian Islands: Bartholomew, Agathon and Calogero; to them the population is still particularly devoted, considering them special protectors and intercessors.
In that role they are represented here, together with the Virgin, as they address the Trinity, which occupies the top part of the painting. Christ, in the upper left corner, is in fact depicted about to hurl the thunderbolts he holds in his hands-symbols of calamities that were often considered divine chastisements (such as frequent earthquakes in that period)-against the city of Lipari. The city, is placed in the center of the composition below and recognizable by the Acropolis and the built-up area of Marina Corta with the soaring bell tower of the church of San Giuseppe.
Interceding for Lipari to be spared is the Virgin, in the foreground, with the apostle St. Bartholomew seemingly offering his own skin as a pledge.
Joining in that heartfelt plea are, on the right, St. Agathon, standing with mitre and crosier, whom tradition holds to be the first bishop of Lipari, and the hermit saint Calogero, kneeling, to whom tradition attributes the rediscovery of the thermal baths in the district of the same name, with beside him the doe sent to him by God Himself to nourish him in the last years of his life.
