Italian family of marble-workers, sculptors and architects. Four generations of the family are known from 22 signed inscriptions. Between 1162 and 1254 they ran the most prolific marble workshop in Rome; more than a quarter of all the surviving signed works by the medieval Roman marble workers known as the COSMATI were produced by the Laurentius family alone. The father often worked with his sons and signed his name with theirs, so that the genealogy of named members of the family is certain. Two members of the family, Jacobus Laurentii and his grandson Lucas Cosmati, held honorary posts at the papal court, which would suggest that they were held in high esteem by both citizens and curia. The principal surviving work by the family is Civit? Castellana Cathedral, Lazio, in which the names of all four generations of the family are recorded in inscriptions. The portico dated 1210 and signed by Jacobus Laurentii and his son Cosmas (see below) was their finest achievement, indicating the Roman marble workers' critical knowledge of the Antique. As in most of the other marble workshops in Rome, most commissions were for the furnishing and decoration of church interiors, but after 1180 the Laurentius family also carried out work on portals and fa?ades. Jacobus Laurentius was one of the first of the Roman marble workers to undertake figural mosaic work.
See the Abbreviations for further details.
