This powerful low-relief sculpture, dating to 1714, depicts the martyrdom of Saint Andrew and adorns the church of San Gaetano in Florence. Executed with remarkable sensitivity and dramatic force, the work captures the moment of the apostle’s final submission to his fate, a scene that fuses physical struggle with profound spiritual serenity.

At the centre, Saint Andrew is shown being bound to the diagonal cross that bears his name. His body twists with a naturalism that reveals the sculptor’s deep study of anatomy, yet his face remains calm, his gaze lifted in acceptance of divine will. The soldiers around him strain with muscular energy, their gestures frozen in the act of fastening ropes, each movement carved with taut precision. The diagonal beam of the cross, rising to the right, anchors the composition and draws the viewer’s eye upward, symbolising both suffering and transcendence.

Behind the central group, faintly emerging from the background, stand onlookers, some indifferent, others awe-struck, rendered in lower relief to create depth and narrative tension. The interplay of light and shadow across the sculpted surface enhances the emotional intensity: the rough texture of stone suggesting both the weight of the moment and the permanence of faith.

Typical of early 18th-century Florentine religious sculpture, this work combines Baroque dynamism with a Classical restraint. It transforms a moment of martyrdom into an image of divine triumph, Saint Andrew’s body bound to the cross, yet his spirit already released toward eternity.