Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian, Emilian school, 17th century (oil on canvas)

The canvas in question depicts the martyrdom of Saint Sebastian in a manner that is respectful of the hagiographic and pictorial tradition, but at the same time particularly original.
From the Passio Sebastiani, the text at the basis of the cult of the saint and at the origin of his iconographic fortune, it is said that at the time of the emperors Diocletian and Maximian (who reigned in diarchy between 286 and 305), Sebastian was an esteemed officer who hid his faith under his cloak to better help the Christians by exploiting his position. Unable to persuade his officer to renounce his faith and proselytism, Diocletian decided to have him killed by being pierced by the arrows of his archers, an episode of the saint's martyrdom definitively consecrated by the pictorial tradition as well as in our painting.
If traditional iconography, both pictorial and sculptural, has chosen to focus mostly on the representation of this moment of the Saint's Passion, we learn from the hagiographic text cited above that Sebastian survived, was cared for by Saint Irene (in this regard, the pictorial rendition of “Saint Sebastian cared for by the pious women” by Georges de la Tour, Paris Louvre, is well known) and returned to the emperor's palace to demonstrate the power of Christ. He was then condemned to be flogged to death and his body was thrown into the sewers to be later found by Lucina and buried in the catacombs.
If in the pictorial representations of direct Counter-Reformation inspiration the version of Sebastiano cured by Saint Irene conveys the message of the charity of the Church towards all the most needy, charity of which Irene is both symbol and personification, in the rest of the representations, or rather in the majority of them, just like in our painting, the favourite and immortalised moment is that of the saint pierced by arrows, an experience of martyrdom here figuratively reinforced by the presence of the angel who intervenes to deliver the palm of victory and who is about to crown the saint with the wreath of triumph (biblical references to Saint Paul and the book of Revelation).
In our painting, there is a direct connection with the pictorial tradition of the Emilian school, in which this method of representing the aforementioned religious subject enjoyed particular success and diffusion.
First of all, a direct comparison with the numerous Apollonian versions of Reni's Saint Sebastian is in order: in our painting the Saint, with his theatrical gestures and the massive roughness of his body, emanates a monumental energy. The latter excludes any cruelty without however echoing the sensual exhaustion that distinguishes the known versions of Reni, to which our painter nevertheless seems to look, albeit with detachment.
Other well-known prototypes, with which our painter from the Emilian area compares himself, are those of Giuseppe Cesari known as Cavalier d'Arpino (Naples, Quadreria dei Gerolamini), of Ludovico Carracci (Gravina di Puglia, Museo Pomarici Santomasi) as well as the late-Renaissance San Sebastiano by Giovanni De Vecchi.
Like Cesari's Saint Sebastian, ours, compared to Reni's model, seems to be physically more distant: the figure with its gaunt chest and its angular and rigid body as a whole, seems to keep the viewer away from any form of participation in the pain and existential suffering of the saint. From this comparison, our painting, like Cesari's, appears to be closer to a gothic Andachtsbild.
Similarly, however, if we compare our painting with that of Ludovico Carracci, like the effeminate copy of the figure of Ludovico taken from Guido Cagnacci, it inhibits physical attraction in a still different way, above all because of the stylised musculature of Mannerist memory (see Sebastiano del Piombo, Flagellation in San Pietro in Montorio).
Just like in Carracci's Saint Sebastian, the detachment from reality is even more evident in the gap between the body and the head/mind of the martyr, far from the relaxed tones of Reni's figure, who appears relaxed and completely aware of his own palpable physicality.
If we have mentioned Cagnacci it is because the closeness to the latter's manner can also be found by looking at other iconographic prototypes: think of the Penitent Magdalene from the Spadoni collection in Bologna or the Lucrezia from the Pinacoteca Nazionale in Bologna.
Even closer relationships, however, can be detected with paintings already attributed to Cagnacci, but whose paternity is to be considered sub judice: this is the case of the Saint Anthony of Padua in the Pinacoteca of Forlì or of the Saint Ignatius of Loyola in the collegiate church of Sant'Arcangelo in Romagna, today traced back to the corpus of Cristoforo Savolini.

Measurements: 76x 59 canvas / frame 101 x 71

Its authenticity is certified

Sales invoice is issued

Shipping throughout Europe do not hesitate to contact us