Spanish school; first half of the 17th century.

Spanish school; first half of the XVII century.
"San Sebastian".
Oil on canvas. Relined.
It has Repainting, restorations, patches on the back and damage caused by xylophages.
Measurements: 167,5 x 116 cm.
In this work the saint is represented tied to the tree, although the dates have not yet been nailed on his body. Of young and athletic aspect, as in normal in the representation of San Sebastian, he raises his look to the sky, accepting his martyrdom with serenity and faith, waiting to be crowned by an angel that departs from a golden break of glory and that goes to the saint. As is common in Spanish imagery, the scene is captured with great drama through the posture of the saint, whose body is folded in an exacerbated foreshortening. There is a great classical influence in the conception of this work, an example of this is the way in which the body of Saint Sebastian has been conceived, which has a certain exaggeration of the forms, linked to mannerism. As for the more classical precepts, the posture shows us the artist's knowledge of the praxitelic canon, with the hip slightly elevated, carrying the weight on the left foot, and advancing the right leg as is intuited in this work. The piece not only presents the figure of St. Sebastian, but also shows several characters contemplating the martyrdom, although it is worth mentioning that the group located on the left side of the scene, are shown outside the main protagonist, so that invites us to think that it is a passage linked to the martyrdom.
Born in Gaul and raised in Milan, Sebastian was a centurion of the first cohort in the time of Emperor Diocletian (late third - early fourth century). Denounced because he exhorted his friends Mark and Marcellinus to remain firm in their faith, by order of the emperor he was tied to a post in the center of the field of Mars, and served as a live target for the archers who shot him. But he did not die for it. The widow Irene, who wanted to raise his body for burial, noticed that he was still breathing, bandaged his wounds and saved his life. After his cure he reappeared before Diocletian to reproach him for his cruelty to the Christians. He was then scourged, beaten to death in the circus and his corpse was thrown into the Maximian sewer. Shortly afterwards, St. Sebastian appeared to St. Lucila in her sleep to reveal to her the location of his remains, and asked her to bury him in the catacombs.