In this work by Artemisia Gentileschi, a docile lion licks Saint Januarius’s feet while his friend the bear looks on with a smile. 

The animals were supposed to rip the saint apart and his executioners were not happy with the development. Some people would take it as a sign from God when wild animals were suddenly tamed, no longer seeing the human thrown at them as meat. Unfortunately for Saint Januarius, his executioners were of the “if at first you don’t succeed” mindset, and he was later beheaded. 

Not much is known about Saint Januarius’s life beyond that he was appointed Bishop of Naples, where he is the patron saint, and that he was martyred during the Christian persecution of Roman emperor Diocletian. A few different versions of his death exist: one story had him thrown into a furnace, emerging unharmed before being trapped with the lion and the bear. Another version had his executioner struck blind by God for his repeated attempts to kill the Saint. Saint Januarius being, well, a Saint, heals him, but again, the story ends the same and thus he is martyred. 

This painting was one of three that Artemisia Gentileschi completed for the Cathedral of Pozzuoli, along with Saints Proculus and Nicea, and The Adoration of the Magi. It’s a departure from her earlier work for being notably less violent. Instead of Baroque drama, it's a Saint’s blessing and an overgrown kitty cat. Historians guess that the muted tones and subtle composition may have been an attempt by the artist to have her paintings fit in with the others in the Cathedral. 

There is brief mention of a second, gorier Saint Januarius painting by Gentileschi. In a biography written by Averardo de’ Medici, The Martyrdom of St. Januarius is referenced as being one of a pair hanging on the wall of the Cathedral of Pozzuoli. The other was a painting of St. Januarius’s beheading, but if the painting existed it also could have been done by a different artist. Either way; it has since been lost so we’ll never know. 

After a fire in 1964, the paintings were moved from their original location in the Cathedral for safekeeping at the National Museum of Capodimonte. Though the fire damaged parts of the work, it has been mostly restored, and there was a silver lining: restoration work revealed Gentileschi's signature beneath the lion's tail.