The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2024

Saint Sebastian

Saint Sebastian

c. 1600–1620
Overall: 139.5 x 54.6 x 45.1 cm (54 15/16 x 21 1/2 x 17 3/4 in.)

Description

An early Christian saint and martyr, Sebastian was condemned to death by the Roman emperor Diocletian. Bound to a tree and shot with arrows, he survived—only later to be martyred by beating. This figure embodies the blend of stylistic influences that characterized German sculpture in the early 1600s. The graceful pose and anatomical naturalism of the legs indicate the influence of Italian Mannerism, while the crisp, stylized patterns of Sebastian’s hair and loincloth recall German Gothic works from the 1400s. The tree to which Sebastian is bound is an actual branch, shaped and refined to its present appearance.
  • Private collection (Bregenz, Switzerland)
    Edward H. Merrin, Inc. (New York, New York), sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1980.
  • Gilardoni, Virgilio, Giancarlo Vigorelli, and Gino Cerastico. Presenze d'arte in Ticino dal XV al XVIII secolo: da collezioni private e pubbliche : [mostra], 1 settembre-4 novembre 1979, [Lugano], Villa Malpensata. Lugano: Rassegna internazionale delle arti e della cultura, 1979. Mentioned: cat. no. 60, Reproduced
    "La Chronique des Arts." Gazette des Beaux-Arts, supplement (Mars 1981): 1-76. Reproduced: p. 32, fig. 175
    Lee, Sherman E. "The Year in Review for 1980." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 68, no. 6 (1981): 163-219. Mentioned: cat. no. 79, p. 213, Reproduced: p. 191 www.jstor.org
    Ditner, David Charles. Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century European Sculpture in the Cleveland Museum of Art. Dissertation. Cleveland, OH: Case Western Reserve University, 1986. Reproduced: p. 445
  • Year in Review: 1980. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (June 24-July 19, 1981).
    "Presenze d'arte in Ticino dal XV al XVIII secolo," Lugano, Rassegna Internazionale delle Arti e della Cultura, 1979, cat. no. 60., illus.
  • {{cite web|title=Saint Sebastian|url=false|author=|year=c. 1600–1620|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1980.41