San Lorenzo is a

Gothic architecture Gothic architecture is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High Middle Ages, High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It evolved f ...

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

Basilica church in Mortara,

Province of Pavia The province of Pavia () is a Provinces of Italy, province in the Lombardy region of Italy. Its capital is Pavia. , the province has a population of 548,722 inhabitants and an area of ; the town of Pavia has a population of 72,205. History T ...

, region of

Lombardy The Lombardy Region (; ) is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in northern Italy and has a population of about 10 million people, constituting more than one-sixth of Italy's population. Lombardy is ...

, Italy.

History

The church was designed and built by

Bartolino da Novara Bartolino (Bertolino) Ploti da Novara (died 1406–1410) was an Italian military architect and engineer. He was in the service of the Este that in the city of Ferrara in 1376 presented him with a palace in which he lived also his descendant Dome ...

between 1375 and 1380. Restorations took place in 1840 and again in 1916. The unfinished brick facade contains a central rose window and lateral ogival windows, flanked by

buttress A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient (typically Gothic) buildings, as a means of providing support to act ...

es that taper into roof spires. Two exterior 15th-century bas-reliefs are above the entry portal. In the pilaster strips are 19th-century copies of depictions of the Saints Albin, Amicus and Amelius found in a 15th-century polyptych by Paolo da Brescia, a work once in the local church St Albin and now conserved in the

Sabauda Gallery The Savoy Gallery () is an art collection in the Italian city of Turin, which contains the royal art collections amassed by the House of Savoy over the centuries. It is located on Via XX Settembre, 86. The museum, whose first directors were Rob ...

of Turin. Inside, in first span on the right there is an anonymous 15th-century fresco representing the ''Virgin and Child''; in the second span, a ''Virgin between Saints Roch and Sebastian'' (1524) attributed to

Gaudenzio Ferrari Gaudenzio Ferrari ( – 11 January 1546) was an Italian painter and sculptor of the Renaissance. Biography Gaudenzio was born to Franchino Ferrari at Valduggia in Valsesia in the Duchy of Milan. Valduggia is now in the province of Vercelli in P ...

. The first chapel houses a panel depicting the ''Madonna of the Rosary'' (1578) by Bernardo Lanino; the same author painted a panel is crowned by tablets depicting the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary. The niche is completed by four canvases depicting the ''Archangel Gabriel and the Virgin of the Annunciation'', ''Flight to Egypt'', and ''Rest of the Holy Family'' by

Giulio Cesare Procaccini Giulio Cesare Procaccini (1574–1625) was an Italian painter and sculptor of the early Baroque era in Milan. Biography Born in Bologna he was son of the Mannerist painter Ercole Procaccini the Elder and brother of Camillo Procaccini and Car ...

, in addition to a canvas of ''Glory in Paradise'' attributed to

Camillo Procaccini 300px, ''Nativity'' by Camillo Procaccini Camillo Procaccini (3 March 1561 at Parma – 21 August 1629) was an Italian painter. He has been posthumously referred to as the ''Vasari of Lombardy'', for his prolific Mannerist fresco decoration. Bo ...

. In the second chapel, above the altar, is the large altarpiece depicting ''Crucifixion with Saints Ambrosius, Laurentius and Mary the Magdalen'', (1610) by

Giovanni Battista Crespi Giovanni Battista Crespi (23 December 1573 – 23 October 1632), called Il Cerano, was an Italian painter, sculptor, and architect. Biography He was born in Romagnano Sesia, the son of a painter, Raffaele Crespi, and moved to Cerano with his f ...

. In the first chapel on the left is a 15th-century Christmas

Nativity scene In the Christian tradition, a nativity scene (also known as a manger scene, crib, crèche ( or ), or in Italian ''presepio'' or ''presepe'', or Bethlehem) is the special exhibition, particularly during the Christmastide, Christmas season, of ar ...

(presepi) made in wood with about 80 low relief figures by Lorenzo da Mortara. Next to this is a ''San Carlo in prayer'' and ''St Anne with Virgin'' attributed to

Pier Francesco Mazzucchelli Pier Francesco Mazzucchelli (commonly known as il Morazzone; 1573–1626) was an Italian painter and draughtsman who was active in Milan. He is mainly known for his altarpieces, but his outstanding achievements are large decorative frescoes ...

. The second chapel has a fifteenth-century polyptych on a six-parted table, by A. De Mulini.La patria; geografia dell' Italia: Provincia di Milano
per G. Chiesi. 1894 ... By Gustavo Chiesi, Luigi Borsari, Giuseppe Isidoro Arneudo, Pages 173-174.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lorenzo Mortara Churches in Mortara 14th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Gothic architecture in Lombardy Mortara