San Lorenzo in Lucina

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Map

San Lorenzo in Lucina

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The ancient church of San Lorenzo in Lucina may have been founded during the reign of Pope Sixtus III (r. 432-40), or even earlier. It is said to have been built on the site of the house of a Christian woman called Lucina. The church was rebuilt in the 12th century and again in the 17th century. The bell tower and portico survive from the 12th century rebuilding. 

Nave

The interior comprises a single nave with side chapels. The first chapel on the right is home to a reliquary purporting to contain part of the gridiron on which St Lawrence is said to have been martyred in 258

Monument to Nicholas Poussin

Outside the second chapel is a monument to the French painter Nicholas Poussin (1594-1665), who lived in Rome for many years, and is interred in the church. The monument was erected between 1828 and 1832 by François-René, vicomte de Chateaubriand (1768-1848), the French writer and diplomat. The dedication reads (in translation): Chateaubriand to Nicolas Poussin, for the glory of the arts and the honour of France. The bust is signed P. Lemoyne and the bas-relief of Poussin's most famous painting, Et in Arcadia Ego, is by Leon Vaudoyer. 

​The epitaph proclaims: PARCE PIIS LACRYMIS VIVIT PUSSINUS IN VRNA/VIVERE QVI DEDERAT NESCIVS IPSE MORI/HIC TAMEN IPSE SILET SI VIS AVDIRE LOQUENTVM/MIRVM EST IN TABVLIS VIVET ET ELOQVITVR. In essence, it states that Poussin is silent now, but if you are prepared to listen, you can hear him speaking through his pictures. 

Bust of Gabriel Fonseca (c. 1668-74) by Gian Lorenzo Bernini

The fourth chapel was designed by Bernini for Gabriele Fonseca, the doctor to Pope Innocent X (r. 1644-55). 
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The painting on the high altar is the Crucifixion by Guido Reni (1575-1642). It was much admired by the English poet Robert Browning (1812-89), who hailed it as 'second to nought observable in Rome' in his poem The Ring and the Book (1868). ​​

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