- Saint Sebastian
Frame (outer): 48 × 38 1/4 × 3 7/8 in. (121.9 × 97.2 × 9.8 cm)
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Saint Sebastian was a 3rd-century Roman officer who was condemned to be shot with arrows for his Christian beliefs. After healing from his wounds, he was eventually beaten to death, and his body was thrown into a sewer.
Simon Vouet does not depict the saint's martyrdom, but he alludes to it through the arrow that the figure holds. The French-born artist painted this work in Rome, where he lived from 1614 to 1627. Vouet was one of the most successful foreign painters in Italy, and he continued to enjoy a prestigious and influential career after his return to France. Vouet's Saint Sebastian shows the impact of the work of Italian painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (known as Caravaggio), whose compositions often were limited to one figure or a few figures, shown in half length, set in obscure surroundings, and illuminated by a strong, raking light.
ProvenancePossibly Ferrante Carlo, Fabritio Valguarnera, and Abbate Corsetto, Rome, per deposition testimony of Carlo and Valguarnera in Valguarnera's art theft trial on July 28, 1631 [1]; Canon Hert, Durrington Rectory, Salisbury, England, 1914; [Sotheby’s, New York, January 12, 1989, lot 73]; [Newhouse Galleries, New York]; purchased by the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation, 1990.
[1] Per Carlo, “Un’S. Sebastiano in tela mezza figura del naturale di mano di Monsù Ovetto.” Per Valguarnera, “I’ s. bastiano ch’io vendei al S.e Abb.e Corsetto per scudi trenta, qual S. Bastiano non sta nel d.o Inventario, me li vende tutti il s. Ferrante de Carolis qui in Roma sett’mesi son incirca.”
Exhibition History“Masterpieces of European Painting from the 15th to 20th Centuries from The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the Sarah Campbell Baffer Foundation," The Museum of Art, Ehime, Matsuyama, Japan, April 13–May 30, 1999; Chiba Prefectural Art Museum, Japan, June 5–July 11, 1999; Mie Prefectural Art Museum, Tsu, Japan, July 17–August 22, 1999; Fukuoka Art Museum, Japan, August 27–October 3, 1999.
Princeton University Art Museum, New Jersey, June 28, 2015–January 31, 2016.
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