Martyrdom of St. Lawrence, with Two Nuns (M 022)

“Turn me over,” he said to his executioners. “I’m done on this side!” Known especially for his droll sense of humour, St. Lawrence of Rome (third century) is one of the Eternal City’s most celebrated martyrs. We like to think he would be amused by our coordinating “Grilling (or Cooking) with” items! + In this splendid painting of c. 1430 by Venetian artist Jacobello del Fiore, St. Lawrence is depicted being roasted to death. The disparity in the sizes of the main figures is a feature of art that does not employ perspective. The larger the figure, the more important the person portrayed in the composition, God the Father being an exception here. St. Lawrence, lying prone on the gridiron, dominates this scene. Raising his upper torso on his elbows and with hands folded in prayer, the Saint gazes heavenward to God with a serene expression on his face. As was the custom in pre-Renaissance art, God The Father is not represented as a full human figure, but only as a head emerging from the clouds in the top left corner of the picture where only the Hand of God would have appeared symbolically in ages prior. On the right of the panel, St. Lawrence’s executioners, next in relative size and importance to him, tend the fire beneath the gridiron with long-handled rakes, the one in front shielding his face from the heat of the flames. On the left, there are two kneeling nuns, nuns who either commissioned the panel themselves as an object of private devotion or commissioned the panel on behalf of their convent as part of a larger artwork like a predella. They are the smallest figures of all. The subsidiary elements include two scrolls with Latin inscriptions— one in the space above the St. Lawrence and one arching around the nuns. + St. Lawrence is patron saint of comedians and of cooks. + Feast: August 10 + Image Credit (M 022): Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence, with Two Nuns, by Jacobello del Fiore (Venetian Italian; 1370-1439), tempera painting on wood panel in the International Gothic style, 27.7”x14.9” (70.5 cm x 38 cm), Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Acc. No. SK-A-4001. The nuns have been variously identified as Dominicans or Benedictines. From Wikimedia Commons {{PD-Art|PD-old-100}}. The image file has been identified as being free of known restrictions under copyright law, including all related and neighbouring rights.