St Laurence

Historiated initial L from an Antiphoner, 1390s

The initial L belonged to the office of Matins for the feast of St Laurence (10 August) in Corale 19, an Antiphoner made in the 1390s. St Laurence is shown with a book, a martyr’s palm branch and his distinctive attribute, the gridiron on which he was tortured. The image has been attributed to various artists: Don Silvestro dei Gherarducci; his collaborator known as the Maestro delle Canzoni; or the Florentine painter and illuminator Mariotto di Nardo.

It is also possible that the figure of St Laurence and the decorated initial were painted by two different artists; despite general similarities, some differences exist between the pigments used in these two areas. Green hues, for example, were all obtained using a mixture of azurite with a yellow pigment. The palm leaf held by the Saint, however, seems to contain ultramarine as well (hotspot 1). The XRF data also suggest the presence of gypsum in most of the border areas analysed, but not in the figure of the Saint.