Offered by Galerie Duponchel
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The MASTER of MARTYRDOMS (active in Naples in the 1st of the 17th century)
The martyrdom of Saint Lawrence
Oil on canvas - 62.5 x 76 cm
17th century Italian frame - 80.8 x 94 cm
We would like to warmly thank Professor Pierluigi Leone De Castris for confirming the attribution of this painting. He is an art historian and a leading specialist in Neapolitan painting, to whom we owe the first studies on our artist.
This astonishing painting, with its vigorous treatment characterised by a lively brushwork, applied in visible and dynamic strokes, captures all the violence of the subject. The artist portrays the scene at its climax: on the verge of succumbing, Lawrence, depicted in a striking foreshortening and bathed in violent chiaroscuro,reaches up to heaven to receive the crown and palm of martyrdom from two intertwined angels.
His tormentors contorted around the suffering saint, while scattered groups of soldiers frame the scene. The composition is completed by unsettling figures in togas, whose ghostly presence is barely suggested by a few swift brushstrokes (a technique reminiscent of the style of François de Nomé, close to our artist).
Full description available on request
