Pincers, a tooth, and the palm branch of a martyr identify this figure as St. Apollonia, the patron saint of dentists and all who seek relief from toothaches. Apollonia's teeth were forcefully removed during an anti-Christian riot in the third century when she refused to recant her Christian beliefs. Bernado Strozzi, a former Capuchin monk, painted her as a young woman with a faint halo to indicate her sainthood. Strozzi's use of dramatic lighting and loose brushwork in his depiction of the saint contributes to a feeling of immediacy that would have reinforced the devotional experience for a contemporary 17th-century viewer.