''Saint Sebastian'' is an oil on canvas painting by Italian artist

Mattia Preti Mattia Preti (24 February 1613 – 3 January 1699) was an Italian Baroque artist who worked in Italy and Malta. He was appointed a Member of the Order of Saint John. Life Born in the small town of Taverna in Calabria, Preti was called ''Il Cava ...

, created ''c.'' 1657. It represents

Saint Sebastian Saint Sebastian (in Latin: ''Sebastianus''; Narbo, Gallia Narbonensis, Roman Empire c. AD 255 – Rome, Italia, Roman Empire c. AD 288) was an early Christian saint and martyr. According to traditional belief, he was killed during the Dioclet ...

, and is held in the

National Museum of Capodimonte Museo di Capodimonte is an art museum located in the Palace of Capodimonte, a grand House of Bourbon, Bourbon palazzo in Naples, Italy. The museum is the prime repository of Neapolitan painting and decorative art, with several important works ...

, in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

History

The painting was made on behalf of the nuns of the in Naples, during Preti first stay at the city. Following criticism and pressure from the artists of the Neapolitan environment, above all

Luca Giordano Luca Giordano (18 October 1634 – 3 January 1705) was an Italian late-Baroque painter and printmaker in etching. Fluent and decorative, he worked successfully in Naples and Rome, Florence, and Venice, before spending a decade in Spain. Ear ...

, who considered the representation of the saint devoid of the nobility and beauty that distinguishes him in classical iconography, the work was removed from the chapel where it was located. Embittered by the incident, Preti handed his canvas to a nobleman who placed it in the family's private chapel, inside the church, today Basilica, of Santa Maria dei Sette Dolori, in Naples, where it remained on view until 1974 (the nobleman affirmed that the painting could thus be "the school of young people who want to profit from a perfect drawing, and an excellent natural.").Nicola Spinosa (1999) ''Mattia Preti. Tra Roma, Napoli e Malta''. Naples, Electa, p. 148 (Italian) The same year the work was transferred, for security reasons, to the

.Nicola Spinosa (1999) ''Mattia Preti. Tra Roma, Napoli e Malta''. Naples, Electa, p. 148 (Italian)

Description

The scene, which has a clear Caravaggesque influence, depicts the saint tied to a pole and pierced by arrows, following the death sentence inflicted on him as a Christian by emperor

Diocletian Diocletian (; la, Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus, grc, Διοκλητιανός, Diokletianós; c. 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed ''Iovius'', was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Gaius Valerius Diocles ...

.Nicola Spinosa (1999) ''Mattia Preti. Tra Roma, Napoli e Malta''. Naples, Electa, p. 148 (Italian) The pose of Saint Sebastian emphasizes the Pretian style of the figures taken foreshortened, in transversal projection, to give more momentum and depth to the composition, elements already adopted in previous works such as his ''San Nicola di Bari'' or his ''San Giovanni Battista'', but here they find the apex of realization for their quality and style.Nicola Spinosa (1999) ''Mattia Preti. Tra Roma, Napoli e Malta''. Naples, Electa, p. 148 (Italian) Unlike the two paintings of San Domenico Soriano, where the first sees a luministic effect dominated by the yellow color scheme, and the second by a red one, in this work, which is chronologically slightly later, there is a prevalence of the silvery gray hue, a detail also found in the immediately following works to this, like the ''Return of the Prodigal Son'', in the version of the

Royal Palace of Naples The Royal Palace of Naples ( it, Palazzo Reale di Napoli, italic=no, nap, Palazzo Riale ‘e Napule) is a palace, museum, and historical tourist destination located in central Naples, southern Italy. It was one of the four residences near Napl ...

, and which more generally will accompany the whole mature phase of the Calabrian painter.Nicola Spinosa (1999) ''Mattia Preti. Tra Roma, Napoli e Malta''. Naples, Electa, p. 148 (Italian)

Roberto Longhi Roberto Longhi (28 December 1890 – 3 June 1970) was an Italian academic, art historian, and curator. The main subjects of his studies were the painters Caravaggio and Piero della Francesca. Early life and career Longhi was born in December 189 ...

in 1913 defined the work as a "masterpiece of an isolated figure", highlighting precisely the particular construction of the scene: "(...) I do not know a single figure where the construction created by the seventeenth century is expressed with greater clarity and success ".Nicola Spinosa (1999) ''Mattia Preti. Tra Roma, Napoli e Malta''. Naples, Electa, p. 148 (Italian)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Sebastian (Preti) 1657 paintings Paintings by Mattia Preti Paintings in the Museo di Capodimonte Paintings of Saint Sebastian