excerpt from the National Gallery website

“This painting, which shows Saints Christina and Ottilia, was part of a multi-panelled altarpiece made by Cranach in 1506, shortly after he was appointed court painter to the Elector of Saxony, Friedrich the Wise.

Saint Christina of Bolsena was a third-century virgin martyr. When she renounced her pagan faith and converted to Christianity, her father ordered her torture – but every attempt was thwarted and Christina remained miraculously unharmed. She stands on the stone to which she was tied before being thrown in a lake. Despite the heavy weight, she floated. She was eventually killed by beheading.

Saint Ottilia of Alsace was a Benedictine nun whose blindness was miraculously cured during her baptism into the Christian faith. She went on to bring her brother back to life after their father accidentally killed him, and was the founder of numerous monasteries.”