The Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence

This composition relates to Francesco Trevisani’s altarpiece of Saint Lawrence, completed during the 1730s for the Oratorian church of San Filippo Neri in Turin. It may have been intended as a ‘presentation piece’ for Filippo Juvarra, who, while in the process of reconstructing and remodeling the church, had engaged Trevisani to work on the decoration of the altar. The two men had known each other at the court of Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni in Rome, and Juvarra’s inventories indicate that it was common for him to retain bozzetti and modelli of the decorative projects that he commissioned.

We are grateful to Dr. Karin Wolfe for her assistance in cataloguing this lot.