Skip to main content
National Gallery of Art National Gallery of Art

Directions

  • Open 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
  • Extended summer hours

  • Visit

    • Plan Your Visit
    • Accessibility
    • Visiting with Kids
    • Food and Drink
    • Tours and Guides
    • Explore the Campus

    Open today 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
    Admission is always free

    6th and Constitution Ave NW 
    Washington, DC 20565

    Sculpture Garden Extended Hours

    Open late until 8:00 p.m. on select nights

    Starting June 3

  • Exhibitions & Events

    • Exhibitions
    • Calendar
    • Kid-Friendly Events

    Featured event:

    Block Party

    Join us June 6

  • Art & Artists

    • Artworks
    • Artists
    • Stories
    • Fun and Games
    • Educational Resources
    • Research

    Open Call

    Artists Reimagining the Collection

    Meet the 50 makers selected from more than 1,600 submissions

Utility

  • Shop
  • Support

Open 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.

National Gallery of Art

  • Visit

    • Plan Your Visit
    • Accessibility
    • Visiting with Kids
    • Food and Drink
    • Tours and Guides
    • Explore the Campus

    Open today 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
    Admission is always free

    6th and Constitution Ave NW 
    Washington, DC 20565

    Sculpture Garden Extended Hours

    Open late until 8:00 p.m. on select nights

    Starting June 3

  • Exhibitions & Events

    • Exhibitions
    • Calendar
    • Kid-Friendly Events

    Featured event:

    Block Party

    Join us June 6

  • Art & Artists

    • Artworks
    • Artists
    • Stories
    • Fun and Games
    • Educational Resources
    • Research

    Open Call

    Artists Reimagining the Collection

    Meet the 50 makers selected from more than 1,600 submissions

Utility

  • Shop
  • Support

  • Visit

    • Plan Your Visit
    • Accessibility
    • Visiting with Kids
    • Food and Drink
    • Tours and Guides
    • Explore the Campus

    Open today 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
    Admission is always free

    6th and Constitution Ave NW 
    Washington, DC 20565

    Sculpture Garden Extended Hours

    Open late until 8:00 p.m. on select nights

    Starting June 3

  • Exhibitions & Events

    • Exhibitions
    • Calendar
    • Kid-Friendly Events

    Featured event:

    Block Party

    Join us June 6

  • Art & Artists

    • Artworks
    • Artists
    • Stories
    • Fun and Games
    • Educational Resources
    • Research

    Open Call

    Artists Reimagining the Collection

    Meet the 50 makers selected from more than 1,600 submissions

Utility

  • Shop
  • Support

Directions

  • Open 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
  • Extended summer hours

Global Search

Autocomplete Suggestions
    No Results
    Keep typing to get suggestions
    Loading Results

    Top Searches:

    • Free images
    • Van Gogh
    • Landscape
    • National Gallery Nights
    • Matisse
    Advanced Artwork Search

    Breadcrumb

    1. Home
    2. Artworks
    3. Loiseau, Schmitz and Digard
    Provenance

    Loiseau, Schmitz and Digard

    Explore selected works

    Artwork

    A pale-skinned, nearly nude man is forced back on a metal grate set over fiery coals in this vertical painting. About a dozen men gather around or near the fire, and they all have pale or tanned skin. The person on the grate, Saint Lawrence, leans back on one elbow, which is chained to the grate. Another chain wraps across his hips, over a white loincloth, and more chains bind his legs. He raises one arm, which is forced down by a cleanshaven man wearing armor. Saint Lawrence has dark brown hair and a mustache. His body is muscled and lit with an orange glow from the embers below. One man, closest to us and to our left, stokes the flames with a long fork. He is bare chested, and wears ochre-yellow, tightly fitting, calf-length pants. A nickel-gray cloth is wrapped around his waist, and he wears sandals on his feet. White and topaz blue fabric, presumably clothing, sits on a basket next to a forked, iron instrument in the lower right corner of the painting. A second man stoking the fire to our right, near Saint Lawrence’s head, has a gray beard and hair, and wears a scarlet-red tunic. Others in the shadowed background look on, wearing robes or pieces of metal armor. Saint Lawrence’s raised hand gestures toward a man sitting on a high plinth, near the upper left corner of the composition. That man wears a lapis-blue, form-fitting breastplate. A flint-blue cape is fastened across his shoulders and wraps over his legs. He leans away with one fist raised to his chest, and he holds a short staff in the other hand, by his side. A dusky rose-pink drapery hangs behind him, and a torch-like basket is affixed to the wall next to him. Two winged, baby-like angels hover over Saint Lawrence’s head. Both have curly blond hair and pudgy bodies. One holds a long palm frond and together they hold a crown of laurel leaves. Azure-blue drapery billows around one and spruce-blue drapery flutters around the other. A moonlit sky and landscape are visible in an opening beyond the crowd.
    Jean Baptiste de Champaigne, The Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence, c. 1660, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Fund, 1998.68.1

    The Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence

    The Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence

    Jean Baptiste de Champaigne · c. 1660 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1998.68.1

    Site Footer

    Home National Gallery of Art

    Hours

    Admission is always free.
    Open 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
    Sculpture Garden open until 8:00 p.m. select days this summer

    Locations

    • West Building

      6th St and Constitution Ave NW
      Washington, DC 20565

    • East Building

      4th St and Constitution Ave NW
      Washington, DC 20565

    • Sculpture Garden

      7th St and Constitution Ave NW
      Washington, DC 20565

    Newsletter Sign Up Form

    Art news every week

    Subscribe

    * indicates required

    Follow us

    Social Media

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
    • YouTube

    Footer Primary Menu

    • About
      • About Us
      • Press
      • Contact Us
    • Visit
      • Plan Your Visit
      • Calendar
      • Today's Tours
      • Accessibility
      • Exhibitions
    • Get Involved
      • Donate
      • Membership
      • Opportunities
    • Research
      • Free Images for Download
      • Artwork Search
      • The Center
      • Conservation
      • Library
      • Archives
      • Past Exhibitions
      • Publications
    © 2026 National Gallery of Art

    Legal Links

    • Notices
    • Privacy Policy