Master of the St. Mary Polyptych (attrib.)
The Palazzo Bellomo St. Lawrence Altarpiece: Detail, Lawrence is Tortured

15th century
Palazzo Bellomo, Syracuse, Sicily

The Golden Legend mentions several specific instruments of torture: "rods and staves," "pieces of iron burning…laid to his sides," "plummets" or "scorpions" (whips with pieces of lead in them), and the famous "bed of iron." It does not mention anything like the nail-studded paddles in the bottom left of this picture, but they may correspond to the ungues ("claws") mentioned in another vita (Acta Sanctorum, August vol. 2, 519).

View this image in full resolution.
View the whole altarpiece.
Read more about St. Lawrence.

Photographed at the Palazzo Bellomo by Claire Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.