(Venice 1579–1620)
Saint Sebastian,
oil on canvas, 147 x 75 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private European collection

We are grateful to Maria Giulia Aurigemma for confirming the attribution after examining the present painting in the original and for her help in cataloguing this lot.

This Saint Sebastian was probably painted for a private chapel. The saint’s body, partially covered by a tightly drawn and crumpled white loin cloth, is reminiscent of the nude figure in the left foreground of Saraceni’s Great Flood (see G. Porzio, in: Carlo Saraceni. Un Veneziano tra Roma e l’Europa, exhibition catalogue, ed. by M. G, Aurigemma, Rome 2014, pp. 292-95, cat. no. 55).

Within Saraceni’s oeuvre this work can also be compared to the Flagellation which is only known through studio replicas (see A. Ottani Cavina, Carlo Saraceni, Milan 1968, p. 135, cat. no. 127). As in this Saint Sebastian, the night setting is lit only by a low lateral light, which accentuates the fall of the shadow over the saint’s features and body emerging from the surrounding darkness.

The features of the saint relate to other facial types depicted by Saraceni which are characterised by the use of similar low lighting to out-line the underside of the nose and eye sockets. This form of lighting is reminiscent of that used by Caravaggio in his depiction of the Mary Magdalen in Ecstasy. Saraceni may have been familiar with the copy of this work made by the Flemish painter Louis Finson in 1612 during his Roman sojourn, which is today conserved in the Musée des Beaux Arts, Marseille (inv. no. BA90). Indeed, he borrows from this work the idea for the subject’s head, tipped back, with semi-closed eyes and slightly parted lips, in a state of ecstasy.

Another Saint Sebastian by Carlo Saraceni dated to 1606 is conserved in Prague Castle. This horizontal canvas also represents the saint with his head tipped back, such as here in the present painting, but in this instance, he is shown in profile.

Saraceni almost certainly took inspiration from ancient sculpture for his rendering of this heroic nude figure of the saint, which reflects his early study of the ‘belle opere di Roma’ [the fine works of Rome] – including sculpture – as recorded by his biographer Giovanni Baglione. According to Aurigemma, the choice of such distinctively characterised features can be explained by the desire to give Saint Sebastian an overall classical appearance, which is almost more sculptural than pictorial.

Saraceni makes refined use of the architectural setting in dialogue with the figure. The natural lighting articulates the shadows and also draws attention to the architectural elements, these in turn serve to ennoble the representation of martyrdom of this Christian hero. Compared to other versions of the saint’s iconography, the foreshortened colonnade seen in the background in the present work is a dynamic rendering and such a perspectival enfilade is reminiscent of illustrious Venetian precedents which the painter certainly knew, such as the Removal of the body of Saint Mark by Tintoretto, in the Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan.

Saraceni moved to Rome, from Venice, in around 1598. Early in his career, before his knowledge of the work of Caravaggio began to influence on his work, he specialised in small format pictures. Indeed, the careers of Saraceni and Caravaggio intersected significantly: one of the former’s first important commissions in Rome came about as a result of a notorious scandal surrounding an altarpiece by Caravaggio. Caravaggio’s Death of the Virgin (now in the Musée du Louvre, Paris) was commissioned for Santa Maria della Scala in Rome, but it caused such controversy that the church fathers demanded it be replaced. They turned to Saraceni, who painted his own version of the subject in circa 1610: this remains in situ and marks his first documented large-scale commission.