St. Lawrence
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Authors
Virgilio Del Conte
Date
Type
Image
Language
Keyword
St. Lawrence
Alternative Title
Abstract
This painted wood sculpture, created in 1592, was originally placed high on top of the organ case on one side of the presbytery in the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Mortara. The sculpture was removed in 1936, when the church was "restored" to what was thought to be its medieval purity and placed in another church in the same city, San Pietro di Asti. It is now back in its original building, but the rest of the organ case has been lost, and the sculpture is now displayed much closer to the viewer, rather than being raised high. Documents with the name of the artist, Virgilio Del Conte, were found inside the organ case when it was dismantled. Del Conte is documented as having worked also at the Certosa of Pavia and in Milan, but no other large-scale sculpture by him is known to have survived. The figure's proportions -- a tiny head with an elongated neck and body -- are typical of the elegance of the late sixteenth century. When originally viewed from far below, the body and neck would have appeared more compact, but the head even smaller. The work was restored in 1995 by Eugenio Gritti. Photograph(s) licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Description
San Lorenzo, Mortara; San Pietro di Asti, Mortara; San Lorenzo, Mortara
Citation
Signage in the church