The canvas comes from the Church of Madonna delle Grazie, inside which an altar had been dedicated to the saint at the request of the artillerymen of the Lipari garrison, her protégés*, after the expansion of the same church in the early 1700s.
Work of good workmanship, attributable to the Messina school of Sidoti (18th cent.) because of similarities with a work by the same in the cathedral of Patti.
The work presents in the foreground the crowned saint holding the palm of martyrdom in her right hand. In the background it is possible to recognize episodes and images from the iconography of this martyr (such as the lightning bolt striking her executioner), the patron saint of firefighters and all those who deal with fire.
*Placido Nastasi, Capo Maestro dell’Artigliaria, Maestro Giovanni Bongiorno, Maestro Giacomo Christo and Giuseppe Conti, Artiglieri di questa Nobile e Fidelissima Città di Lipari, humble expose to V. S. Illustrissima that under li 25 aprili 1700 il Can. Capitolare d. Giuseppe Costa, chaplain of the Venerable Church of S. Maria della Grazia, made prius verbo with V. S. Illustrissima, granted to the said exponents a chapel novamente fabricata in said church to the effect of erecting an Altar in honor of Santa Barbara.
The 1703 deed also appears to be accompanied by the signatures of the “Artillery Schoolmen” confirming and ratifying “what will be arranged about the erection of the Altar of St. Barbara in the Ven.le Church of S. Maria della Grazia by our Chief Master and Artillerymen.“
