Pattern for Martirio di San Lorenzo window

Lodovico Caselli
1919

This is a splendid life-size drawing for the round stained-glass window over the main entrance of San Lorenzo cathedral in Perugia, which was commissioned from the artist by the Cathedral Chapter. Lodovico Caselli both designed and created it himself. The window pattern is composed of ten frames corresponding to the ten panels of the window. The work was long, complex and arduous, with repeated reminders and missed deadlines owing both to a long illness, which caused his death on the 4th January 1922, and to the difficult economic and financial conditions of the period. The window was installed in January 1921 and described by a reporter from the weekly newspaper L’Unione Liberale in a poetic tribute which celebrates both the artistry of a master glassworker and an emotional appreciation of his resilience and courage in facing up to family bereavements and his own precarious health in order to complete his commission.