Spanish school; XVI century.

Spanish school; XVI century.
"San Sebastian".
Carved wood, polychrome and gilded.
It presents faults and damages caused by xylophages.
Measurements: 74 x 25 x 29 cm.
In the present carving of baroque school, the asaetado body of San Sebastian (the holes indicate the places where the arrows would have gone) maintains its dignity and nobility after being martyred. Tied to a tree trunk, the half-naked figure presents a harmonious canon of turned limbs, in accordance with the serenity of his face. This is a devotional piece in accordance with the most classicist line of Spanish Baroque, close to the Sevillian school, free of pathos.
Saint Sebastian was born in Gaul, in Narbonne (256). He was Tribune of the First Cohort of the Praetorian Guard, in which he was respected by all and appreciated by the Emperor Diocletian, who was unaware of his Christian condition. Denounced because he exhorted his friends Mark and Marcellinus to remain firm in their faith, Diocletian condemned him to death. The emperor's soldiers took him to the stadium, stripped him naked, tied him to a post and showered him with arrows, leaving him for dead. But after the torture he was not dead; the widow Irene, who came to bury him, noticed that he was still breathing, bandaged his wounds and saved his life. After his cure he went before Diocletian to reproach him for his cruelty to the Christians. He was then scourged and beaten to death in the Circus, his corpse was thrown into the Maximian sewer. Shortly afterwards, the saint appeared to St. Lucila while she was sleeping: he revealed to her the place where he would find his remains and asked her to bury him in the catacombs.