The Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence

Donato Creti was a Bolognese painter of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century, known for his elegant, classically refined figure style that stood apart from both the Baroque theatricality of his immediate predecessors and the nascent Rococo of his contemporaries. His Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence — Lawrence was burned alive on a gridiron — tested Creti's refined manner against a subject demanding both physical horror and spiritual transcendence. The c.1650 catalogue date is likely approximate; Creti was born in 1671 and his mature work belongs to the early eighteenth century. The martyrdom of Lawrence was a significant subject in Bolognese tradition.

The martyr's body on the gridiron provides the central dramatic accent, surrounded by soldiers and angelic witnesses. Creti's characteristic elegance is apparent even in this violent subject — the figures are gracefully proportioned, the colour cool and clear, the composition balanced with almost neoclassical regularity.