Saint Sebastian c.1480-1500
Oil on panel | 68.7 x 51.3 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external) | RCIN 403043
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Saint Sebastian is shown at three-quarter-length, turned very slightly to the right, with his head turned half to the left and looking upwards. He is naked but for a low-slung, rose-pink loincloth, his hands are tied behind his back to a porphyry column, and arrows pierce his abdomen and right arm.
A radiograph reveals that this picture was comprehensively modernized soon after it was painted, demonstrating a historically interesting change of taste. The earlier picture, in which the saint’s head was turned down to the right and the figure was set against a landscape background, was of very high quality and may possibly have been by Francesco Francia himself, c. 1480. To make the second picture a hardwood extension was added to the poplar panel and parts of the original were scraped away. The second artist, who was also accomplished, was working in a style which imitated Francia’s later work, such as his Saint Sebastian (private collection, Madrid). In addition to altering the head and shoulders of the saint and painting out the background, he seems to have lightly repainted the flesh tone to make it darker, more harmonious and more Peruginesque.Provenance
Belonged to Charles I (whose brand appears on the reverse) though not recorded by Van der Doort; sold for £1 from Hampton Court to Latham and others on 23 October 1651 (no 172) or for £8 from Colonel Pride's Room to De Critz on 18 November 1651 (no 284); recovered at the Restoration and listed in the King's Gallery at Hampton Court in 1666 (no 135)
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Creator(s)
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Medium and techniques
Oil on panel
Measurements
68.7 x 51.3 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external)
81.3 x 63.2 x 5.0 cm (frame, external)