Martyrdom of St. Sebastian

This precious piece was conceived in small format and was intended to be contemplated from up close. It shows the martyrdom of St. Sebastian, who is presented here as a hero of classical beauty. Only a few arrows have penetrated his muscular body. Gazing upward to heaven, he seems possessed of a divine strength that informs his entire frame and even sets his overlong loincloth in motion. For believers praying for delivery from the plague, the martyrdom of the young and beautiful Sebastian had the force of a promise of eternal life. The work is unsigned but may be grouped with a number of works, some of which bear the monogram IP. The master sculptor with these initials appears to have had a prosperous workshop in Passau in the early decades of the sixteenth century, but he also crafted altars for Prague. In addition to large-scale retables he also specialized in smallformat works for private use. The Berlin St. Sebastian group is among his most impressive works of this sort.