Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence 1600 - 1700

Curator: Oh my, it looks like a scene from a particularly dramatic nightmare. Stark figures, lots of grey ink…it's raw. Editor: Indeed. What we have here is a print called "Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence." Although the artist is anonymous, we do know it was likely created sometime between 1600 and 1700. Curator: “Anonymous." Isn’t it terribly sad when something so clearly felt, something clearly illustrating human capacity for cruelty, lacks an acknowledged originator? A ghost story, almost. Editor: Well, the concept of artistic authorship shifted dramatically over the centuries. Anonymous works offer a fascinating glimpse into art production outside established workshops and academies, especially within religious or political contexts. Focusing on the piece itself, what do you observe? Curator: The…energy? The fellow on the grill, for starters – presumably Lawrence, roasting away but somehow almost serene amidst the chaos. And look at the levers, the contraptions the torturers use, extending their reach, mechanizing malice. It feels theatrical, but also, terribly intimate. All that suffering displayed for…whom exactly? Editor: The performance aspect is critical. Martyrdom narratives gained immense popularity during the Baroque era as the Catholic Church aimed to reignite religious fervor. Prints like this were relatively accessible, intended to disseminate messages about faith, resilience, and the consequences of opposing religious authority. Notice how the central figures are carefully arranged? Saint Lawrence in the middle-ground while the Roman authority sits elevated above, literally presiding over the torture, but is clearly not in the fray. Curator: He's observing it. Dispassionately. The heart hardens. But I think that artist... that anonymous ghost... was clearly fixated not so much with St. Lawrence, but with the tools of death and the awful voyeurism involved. The image begs us, two centuries later, to participate, and think about that. To observe. Editor: That resonates. The proliferation of these prints suggests a culture grappling with spectacles of violence, faith, and power. Now that you mention it, in its attention to implements and raw display, I feel like one can observe the first throes of human rights, a slow march towards moralizing such violent displays. It is terrible, but an artist was here asking a clear question, it seems to me. Curator: Well said. Thinking about it like that somehow, it takes some of the nightmarish quality away.