Saint Apollonia kneels with her hands folded in prayer as she faces the brutal torture of her persecutors. A halo around her head signifies her saintly status as a martyr. The artist paints the torturer in the middle of the action, bringing the viewer directly into the scene at the point of horror. The crowd of oppressors to the left are barely paying attention to the injustice before them, but their presence paints them as equally complicit.