In the adjoining chambers, called the Antecoros, may be seen a statue converted into the “likeness” of St. Lawrence, and two pictures by Navarrete “el mudo.” That artist is said to have fallen foul of certain ecclesiastics by representing angels with beards, and an additional rule was laid down that neither cats and dogs nor any unbecoming figures were to be introduced into religious pictures, but only such things as incited to devotion. The frescoes are by Luca Giordano, as are also those which decorate the eight vaults of the church itself. In the choir library you may see the splendid antiphoners, beautifully bound and illuminated, and over a yard high by two yards broad.
In the church is the simple tomb of Queen Mercedes, first wife of his late Majesty, Don Alfonso XII. The plain gold cross at her feet was the offering of the British community of Madrid, by whom, as indeed by the whole world, her untimely death was profoundly deplored. She is buried here and not in the mausoleum below, as she was not the mother of a king.
The dome of the Pantheon is covered by the steep flight of steps leading to the chancel, so that Mass is literally celebrated above the bodies of the kings. The altar, which cost about £(?)40,000, is isolated, and is made of marble and jasper, a single slab of the latter stone forming the table. According to the inscription on a bronze plate let into the back of the altar, it contains relics of Saints Peter and Paul, Lawrence and Vincent, and a multitude of other saints, and was consecrated in presence of Philip by the Papal Nuncio, Camillo Caietano, Patriarch of Alexandria, on August 30th, 1595. The beauty of the reredos or retablo is obscured by the dark hue of the stone employed, and by the sombre colour assumed by the paintings in course of the years. The light also is very bad. The three stages into which the retablo is divided correspond to the three Grecian orders of architecture. The columns are of dark red and green jasper, with capitals and pedestals of bronze gilt. The statues represent (looking upwards) the Four Doctors of the Church, the Four Evangelists, St James and St Andrew, St Peter and St Paul. The paintings depict the Nativity and Adoration of the Magi, the Saviour bearing the Cross, the Scourging at the Pillar, the Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence, the Resurrection, the Descent of the Holy Ghost and the Assumption. The cross surmounting the whole was made from the wood of the Portuguese warship, “the Five Wounds.” The architect of this fine work was the Milanese Giacomo Trezzo, the painters Tibaldi and Zuccaro, the sculptors Leone and Pompeio Leoni. The sanctuary to the east contains the superb tabernacle, designed by Herrera and executed by Trezzo, with instruments invented by him for the purpose. It was restored in 1827 by “the pious and august” Ferdinand VII. after it had been rifled and damaged by the French. The reliquaries in the sanctuary contain ten entire bodies of saints, 144 heads, and 306 entire arms and legs. Among these relics is the thigh of Saint Lawrence, showing the roasted flesh and the holes made by the skewers.
