The Sarcophagus of San Lorenzo

Abstract

TO the left of the entrance portal of the church of S. Lorenzo fuori le mura in Rome, and forming the most conspicuous object in its porch, is a sarcophagus of which the front and the two ends are reproduced in Figs. 1, 2, 3. The monument is now set so close against the wall that it is impossible to secure a good photograph of the posterior face, whose decoration, however, though only blocked out and unfinished, is of the same character as that of the front and ends. The sarcophagus for nearly a century has passed as a prime example of fourth century Christian art, and was consecrated as such by being included in Garrucci's Storia dell'arte cristiana², where the earlier bibliography concerning it may be found. Of late it has again engaged the attention of archaeologists, in consequence of the growing interest in late antique style, of which Weigand and Rodenwaldt have discovered in it an intriguing example.