Italian school; Circle of DOMENICO FIASELLA (Italy, 1589 -1669); 17th century."Saint Lawrence.Oil on

Italian school; Circle of DOMENICO FIASELLA (Italy, 1589 -1669); 17th century.
"Saint Lawrence.
Oil on canvas.
It retains its original canvas and has the back covered with silk paper.
It has an antique frame.
Measurements: 92 x 64 cm: 109 x 81 cm (frame).
Kneeling in a sober interior, the young man who is the protagonist of the scene, raises his look to the sky, with his mouth half-open adopting a devotional gesture, in which he seems to be in ecstasy. The religious, as can be deduced from his clothing, directs one of his hands towards his chest and in turn holds the palm of martyrdom between his arms. Despite the few elements that make up the scene, the artist has created a somewhat theatricalised image, both in the gesture already mentioned and in the treatment of the light, which is based on a zenithal spotlight enveloping the figure of the saint. It is probably a representation of Saint Lawrence, a deacon born in Aragon, near Huesca, and martyred in Rome in 258. His "Legendary Acts" narrate that Saint Lawrence, out of humility, washed the feet of Christians, cured a widow of a headache and gave sight to a blind man through baptism. Three days after the martyrdom of Pope Sixtus II, who had ordained him deacon and entrusted him with the treasure of the Church, he was arrested and ordered to hand over these riches. But there was none of it left, as Lorenzo had distributed it to the poor. Furious at seeing his greed frustrated, the emperor Decius ordered him to be flogged with rods, his ribs burned with a red-hot iron and, finally, to be stretched out naked on a gridiron over a mantle of coals. Saint Lawrence is the patron saint of the poor, among whom he distributed the treasures of the Church. He was also adopted as patron saint of numerous guilds and trades. His duties as a deacon also earned him the homage of librarians, bibliophiles and booksellers, since deacons were entrusted with the custody of sacred books. But it was above all his torture on the gridiron that made him most popular: he was invoked against fire, and was considered the protector of all trades exposed to burns, such as firemen, charcoal burners, bakers, glaziers and ironers, among others. With regard to his iconography, Saint Lawrence is depicted as a young man with his head uncovered, dressed in a deacon's dalmatic on which there are sometimes embroidered flames. He usually carries the book of the Gospels and a processional cross, because carrying the cross and keeping the Gospels was the responsibility of the deacons. A bag or a chalice filled with gold coins allude to the treasures of the Church that the pope entrusted to him, but his most characteristic attribute is the grill, the instrument of his martyrdom.
The technical characteristics of the work, such as the treatment of the face, bring this painting close to the work of Domenico Fiasella, an Italian painter of the Baroque period, mainly active in Genoa. He was nicknamed Il Sarzana after his place of birth, the son of Giovanni Fiasella, a goldsmith, who, noting his skills, apprenticed him as an eleven-year-old boy to work with Aurelio Lomi in Genoa, and from there he went on to work with Giovanni Battista Paggi. Around 1607 he left for Rome, where he attended the Accademia del Nudo. His ability was first recognised by Guido Reni and Ciriaco Mattei, which led Domenico Passignano and Cavalier D'Arpino to engage him. The Marquis Vincenzo Giustiniani commissioned several paintings from him, including Christ Healing the Blind and Christ Resurrecting the Son of the Widow of Nain (both eventually purchased by John Ringling and bequeathed to the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art after his death).