Saint Lawrence Liberates Souls from Purgatory
Brooklyn Museum photograph
Caption
Lorenzo di Niccolò (Italian, Florentine, documented 1393–1412). Saint Lawrence Liberates Souls from Purgatory, ca. 1412. Tempera and tooled gold on poplar panel, 13 5/16 × 26 5/8 in. (33.8 × 67.6 cm) frame: 16 × 26 3/4 × 1 3/4 in. (40.6 × 67.9 × 4.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of A. Augustus Healy, 03.75. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Artist
Title
Saint Lawrence Liberates Souls from Purgatory
Date
ca. 1412
Geography
Place made: Italy
Medium
Tempera and tooled gold on poplar panel
Classification
Dimensions
13 5/16 × 26 5/8 in. (33.8 × 67.6 cm) frame: 16 × 26 3/4 × 1 3/4 in. (40.6 × 67.9 × 4.4 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of A. Augustus Healy
Accession Number
03.75
Frequent Art Questions
What is being given to the woman?
I don't know the answer exactly, but the tortures of the damned in scenes of Hell and the Last Judgment are appropriate to the nature of their sins--the gluttonous wallow in a mire and the lecherous burn eternally in a sulfurous pit. The ball could be a reference to a sin. Whatever it symbolizes, this visual was likely obvious to the artist's contemporaries.All of the other figures are being tortured in some capacity, so whatever the ball is, it can't be a pleasant sign!
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