“The Martyrdom of St. Lawrence”
Today, the great Donatello. One of my favorites….
“The Martyrdom of St. Lawrence” is an intricate bronze bas-relief made by the Italian Renaissance master artist, Donatello. It was made between 1460 and 1465. In fact, only recently was the final date of June 14, 1465, found on the relief. Donatello died just one year after its completion.
Saint Lawrence, or Lawrence of Rome, was a deacon in the city of Rome in the early third century. In his position, he was to distribute some of the church’s wealth to the city’s poor as alms. Along with six other people, Lawrence was martyred for his Christian faith by the Roman Emperor Valerian. Valerian gave Lawrence three days to deliver him the church’s wealth. In those three days, Lawrence gave away as much as he could to the poor. After the three days were up, Lawrence presented Valerian with the crippled, blind, and suffering citizens, stating, “Here are the treasures of the church. You see, the church is truly rich, far richer than your emperor!”. Irate, Valerian ordered Lawrence strapped to a gridiron with hot coals below. The legend goes that after much pain, Lawrence declared, “I’m well done on this side. Turn me over!”. Although this version has more elements of drama, it is likely that he was killed by beheading, rather than by a gridiron.
In this piece, Donatello depicts St. Lawrence as he is burned alive. Instead of depicting the gridiron, he depicts flames that lick the saint’s body. Donatello created several panels on the pulpit, which are seen as highlights of his work in the last years of his life. The same subject was tackled by Gian Lorenzo Bernini in 1617, but as a full marble stand-alone sculpture.
“The Martyrdom of St. Lawrence” is currently located on the back of the Resurrection Pulpit in the San Lorenzo Church in Florence, Italy, where it can be seen today. Also located at the church are the tombs of Donatello and Cosimo di Medici.
For more on Donatello, please visit his short biography here.
You can find more artists to learn about here.
