commission, it was done at a later date. Description and interpretation Subject The subject of the artwork is Lawrence of Rome, who was condemned to death by the Roman Emperor Valerian in the year 258 C.E. for defending the Christian faith. According to tradition, Lawrence was burnt to death by being placed on a gridiron. In depicting a highly naturalistic St Lawrence, tortured and yet undergoing some kind of spiritual epiphany, the sculpture presents a taste of many of the themes that Bernini would adopt during the course of his artistic oeuvre, and that would come to represent many of the most pertinent features of the artistic traditions in Italian Baroque art—that of solitary figures undergoing intense emotional states, whilst being depicted with illusionistic verisimilitude. Unlike earlier depictions of Lawrence, there are no other figures—no sign of his judge, torturers or spectators witnessing in depth. Rather the focus is solely on the martyr and his emotional state. Saint Lawrence's emotional state Commentators have subtly varied in describing and interpreting the face of Lawrence. Domenico Bernini contextualised the creation with the anecdote that Bernini placed his actual hand in a flame and fashioned Lawrence’s expression from his own facial reaction seen in a mirror; thus implying that the focus of the portrait of Lawrence would be the physical pain. Yet later commentators have described Lawrence's face not as one of pain, but of being "tired" or more commonly of being spiritual rapt. To Howard Hibbard, the sculpture makes a clear religious statement of spiritual salvation—inner strength overcomes external bodily pain. Certainly, observation of the sculpture seems to bear this out. The martyr almost turns away from the pain, his upper body and head reaching upwards towards the skies, with his clear, almost peaceful eyes, focussed in the direction of God. Others take Bernini's depiction of Lawrence even further: describing the martyr as being "reclined on his left elbow languidly as any Roman banqueter", and thwarting his torturers with "a carved attitude of rapture". Another art historian, Avigdor Poseq, interprets the expression a little differently: “the calm face was apparently meant to convey the intensive of the martyr’s fear of God.” He continues by suggesting that Bernini presented Lawrence with an outstretched to hand to indicate the martyr’s desire to be turned over by his torturers, thus exposing even more of his flesh to the flames below. Technical excellence Twentieth-century commentators have