St Lawrence iconography outside Malta
St. Lawrence was a Roman deacon who was martyred in the middle of the third century. His feast day is celebrated on the 10th of August.
One of the earliest images of this saint is a fourth century medallion depicting him being tortured on a gridiron. Towards the end of the fourth century he was honoured in the book of poems called Peristephanon (Crowns of Martyrdom) by Aurelius Clemens Prudentius, which was followed by subsequent works including the Golden Legend. It is in this book that we first encounter the saint’s words to his torturers, “This part of my body has been burned long enough; turn it round….”
Portraits of St Lawrence
According to Richard Stracke, Professor Emeritus at the Augusta University in Georgia, USA, one of the the earliest portraits of St Lawrence is a fifth century fresco found in the Basilica of St. Paul in Rome, that portrays him as a young man, tonsured and wearing the dalmatic of a deacon. The young look, the tonsure, and the dalmatic are symbols that stay with him through sixteen more centuries of religious art. There are only a few exceptions where the saint is not depicted as such, such as the statue of St Lawrence in the Cloister of the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome which depicts him without a dalmatic and a 3 foot tall wooden statue of the saint made by Tilman Riemenschneide in Germany in around 1502, showing him having lush hair, today housed in the Cleveland Museum of Art in Ohio.
In the fifth century fresco mentioned above, the painter did not include a gridiron. It is not entirely clear as some of the plaster has fallen away at the bottom of the portrait but most likely it was not present in this fresco. However by the sixth century, the saint became strongly associated with the gridiron. In the following centuries, it became his most common attribute.
The gridiron, in most portraits, is shown in a small size, as a mere attribute, and in particular paintings it is nearly insignificant as in the painting of St Lawrence with Saints Cosmas and Damian by Fra Lippo Lippi (c.a 1440) where it is reduced to just a grid pattern on the dais beneath Lawrence’s throne. This painting can be seen in the Metropolitan Museum in New York. Further attributes found in this painting are the palm branch and the dalmatic.
In the Golden Legend, instead of the gridiron, the executioners apply red-hot pitchforks to Lawrence’s body, which becomes yet another attribute, sometimes used.
A further symbol used in portraits of St Lawrence are based on two of his miracles which involved chalices that got broken, a golden one which was broken by the devil out of anger and a crystal one which a deacon in St. Lawrence’s church in Milan dropped and was put put back together again like new after prayers of intercession to St Lawrence.
Owing to these legends, in some images the saint holds a chalice-like bowl, sometimes depicted with a missing piece, as in the painting by Nicolo di Pietro (13401414) found in the Accademia Gallery in Venice where the saint in his left hand is holding what looks like a broken handle. As commonly seen, the saint is also portrayed tonsured and in a dalmatic.
Another influence on the symbol of the chalice is St Augustine’s remark that St. Lawrence served the church in Rome and “it was there that he administered the sacred chalice of Christ’s blood; there that he shed his own blood in the name of Christ.”
In the sixth century mosaic of St Lawrence and St Paul found in the Apse at Saint Clemence Church in Rome, St Lawrence is tonsured, and holds a processional cross. Crosses are very common in saints’ portraits, however this may be of significance as processional and other types of crosses appear very often in images of St Lawrence.
Another reference about crosses can be found in Prudentius’ book of poems where, the saint stood weeping at the foot of the cross on which Pope Sixtus was hung. From the cross the Pope said, “I go before you, my brother; you too will follow me three days from now.”
Another interesting attribute is St Lawrence’s dalmatic, which is usually red in colour. If one looks at Zubraráns oil painting (1636) found in The Hermitage in St. Petersburg in Russia, the saint holds the gridiron that was the instrument of his martyrdom and wears a red dalmatic. Researchers, suggest that his dalmatic is red because that it is the liturgical colour for the feast days of martyrs worn at Mass on such days.
As a deacon St Lawrence is sometimes coupled with St Stephen, the first deacon martyr. An example of this can be seen in the Polychrome terracotta reliefs by Donatello (1428-35) found in the Old Sacristy, Church of Saint Lawrence in Florence. In other portraits he is found alongside saints such as Marina and as mentioned earlier, Cosmas and Damian.
In the Golden Legend before Pope Sixtus was arrested he entrusted the Church’s riches to St Lawrence as can be seen in the part cycle fresco of St Lawrence Receiving the Treasures of the Church by Fra Angelico (1447-49) in the Capella Nicolina, Palazzi Pontifici in the Vatican. St Lawrence then distributed them to the poor. The authorities, on hearing about this, ordered St Lawrence to bring the Church’s treasure back to them. They were not at all amused when he came back with poor and disabled people announcing that these were the true treasures of the Church.
Thus Decius in anger ordered him be put to a slow death, as depicted in another fresco in the Capella Nicolina, Palazzi Pontifici in the Vatican. This part of the legend is also found in St. Ambrose’s De Officiis, II and in Prudentius’ book.
A further beautiful example that depicts episodes from the life of St Lawrence is the fifteenth century wooden altarpiece which contains six narrative panels found in the Palazzo Bellomo in Syracuse, Sicily. The panels show Christians burying Pope Sixtus, St Lawrence distributing alms to the poor, St Lawrence being arraigned before the Emperor Decius, St Lawrence imprisoned, St Lawrence being tortured and a panel showing Decius ordering him to be martyred on a gridiron.
May our faith be strengthened through the martyrdom of Saint Lawrence.