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| Title | Saint Lawrence | |
| Collection | New Walk Museum and Art Gallery, Leicester | |
| Artist | Bembo, Bonifacio (Italian painter, active 1447-1478, died before 1482) Previously attributed to Francesco di Gentile da Fabriano (Italian painter, 15th c.) Previously attributed to Italian (Cremonese) School |
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| Date Earliest | about 1440 | |
| Date Latest | about 1470 | |
| Description | This is one of two small panel paintings in the New Walk Museum by Bonifacio Bembo, who was active in Lombardy in the mid-fifteenth century. Each panel depicts a solitary saint against a stylised landscape setting. Here Saint Lawrence is depicted wearing a long dalmatic and holding the gridiron upon which he was martyred. Parts of the gridiron remain unpainted, though other areas are finely detailed. The linearity and detailed style of this painting are characteristic of Bembo's small-scale works. Bembo spent many years working for the Sforza family in Milan and his oeuvre includes manuscript illuminations. | |
| Current Accession Number | L.F25.1950.0.0 | |
| Former Accession Number | 25 A 1950 | |
| Subject | figure; landscape; religion (St Lawrence) | |
| Measurements | 72.4 x 23.5 cm cm (estimate) | |
| Material | oil on panel | |
| Acquisition Details | Purchased at Henry Harris sale, though Sotheby's, 1950, lot 189, as one of Two Saints by School of Cremona, £400 with pendant. | |
| Publications | Van Marle, R., Italian Schools of Painting, The Hague, 1934, vol. 15, p. 75, cat. no. 4, as by Francesco di Gentile; Longhi, R., Carlo Braccesco, Milan, 1942, p. 17, pl. 19, as by Bembo; Leicester Museums and Art Gallery: Collection of Paintings, Leicester, 1958, no. 27, ill. 1c; Wright, C., Old Master Paintings in Britain: An Index of Continental Old Master Paintings Executed before c.1800 in Public Collections in the United Kingdom, London, 1976, p. 14. | |
| Notes | Related work, inv. no.: L.F26.1950.0.0. Henry Harris, the previous owner of this painting and the related work, owned a large collection of Renaissance bronzes which are now in the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. |
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| Rights Owner | Leicester City Museums Service | |
| Author | Dr Angela Smith | |