St Sebastian
Antonio Belluccic.1716-18
Dulwich Picture Gallery
London, United Kingdom
A highly cosmopolitan artist, Bellucci was born near Venice but worked in Vienna, Germany and England. He created a spectacular Baroque chapel interior for the Duke of Chandos at Canons Park, since moved to Great Witley church, Worcestershire.
St. Sebastian, an early Christian martyr, is shown being tended by Irene, who found him alive despite being peppered with arrows at the order of Diocletian. He was later clubbed to death. Here he is supported by the allegorical figure of Faith. This striking work represents the softening of the Baroque style apparent in the early eighteenth century; the colouring is lush, and the participants in this supposedly painful scene have a languorous and sensual quality.
- Title: St Sebastian
- Creator Lifespan: 1654 - 1726
- Date: c.1716-18
- Physical Dimensions: w1343 x h1447 cm
- Type: Painting
- Medium: Oil
- Work Nationality: Italian
- Support: Canvas
- Provenance: Joseph Franz Anton, Graf von Waldburg-Zeil-Wurzach; his sale, London, Truchsessian Gallery, 14 May 1804, lot 615 ('A. Bellucci-St. Sebastian, relieved by Irene and the Religion'); London, Foster, 25 Jun. 1829, lot 88 ('St. Sebastian attended by Females. The tranquillity of the dying saint is finely pourtrayed. From the Truchsessian Collection'). Bt in for £57.15; London, Exeter Hall, 11 Apr. 1832, lot 4 ('St. Sebastian Wounded, attended by Females with the Cross. From the Truchsessian Gallery. -- A fine specimen of grouping, with good disposition of the lights'); London, Phillips', 28 Jul. 1832, lot 116 ('St. Sebastian Wounded, attended by Females with the Cross. From the Truchsessian Gallery.-- A fine specimen of grouping, with good disposition of the lights'). Sold. £20.9.; Rev. T. B. Murray by 1852; his Gift, 1852.
- Further Information: St. Sebastian (third century) was sentenced to death by Diocletian for his Christian faith. According to the Golden Legend, he was tied to a tree and 'archers shot at him till he was as full of arrows as an urchin'. Miraculously, Irene, a Christian woman sent to bury him found him still alive and nurtured him to health. Bellucci depicts Sebastian thwarting death through the support of Faith and the Christian Irene.
- Artist: Bellucci, Antonio
- Acquisition Method: Murray, Rev. T. B. (Gift, 1852)
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