Scene showing the saint at the time of his martyrdom, being roasted on a grill by order of the roman emperor valerian (3rd century ad). Since the 4th century, saint lawrence has been one of the most revered martyrs of the catholic church, and the numerous legends about his life and death have given rise to confusion about the truth of the story, in which oral tradition and later written sources are mixed. Despite this, his status as a deacon of pope sixtus ii and his death sentence for protecting the property and archives of the church are affirmed with certainty. Valentin presents the saint almost naked, without the deacon dalmatic with which he is usually represented, and at the moment of martyrdom surrounded by his executioners and various spectators. Among them, it is worth highlighting the modern armor that would not correspond to the historical moment of the saint. The technique used, of strong and intense chiaroscuro, provides greater drama to the composition, already tense by the movement and crossing of diagonal lines. Object Type: painting. Date: between 1622 and 1624. Dimensions: height: 195 cm (76.7 in); width: 261 cm (102.7 in). Medium: oil on canvas. Collection: Museo del Prado. El martirio de san Lorenzo, por Valentin de Boulogne
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