Fine Canvas Art Blog

Saint Sebastian by Il Sodoma, 1525

Il Sodoma / Paintings (Reproductions) - 2 years ago - troycapc

The Martyred Saint

St. Sebastian was a favorite subject of European painters. This particular masterpiece of the Renaissance was created in 1525 and is now displayed in the Galleria Palatina in Florence, Italy.

The traditional story of Saint Sebastian was first recorded in the Fifth Century, and relates that he was a centurion of the Praetorian Guard under Diocletian. He became a Christian and was instrumental in the freeing of Christian prisoners who were jailed for refusing to recognize the Roman gods. Sebastian converted their jailors, who then set them free.

Sebastian did not hide this subterfuge, and the emperor Diocletian ordered that he be executed by arrows. Left for dead, Sebastian was saved by a Roman widow named Irene, who nursed him back to health. Later, he cajoled the emperor as Diocletian passed in a procession; this time, the emperor had Sebastian beaten to death and ordered his body to be thrown in a latrine.

According to Catholic tradition, the spirit of St. Sebastian then appeared to a widow in a dream and directed her to where his body lie. With her guidance, St. Sebastian’s body was recovered and he was eventually buried with the apostles in the catacombs at Rome.

St. Sebastian is one of the “Fourteen Holy Helpers” who are regarded by Catholics as particularly powerful in interceding on behalf of believers, and he is credited with having averted the plague from Rome in 680 CE. Worship of St. Sebastian has historically been very popular among knights and the military, where he is celebrated as an “Athleta Christi”, or “Champion of Christ.” He is the patron saint of athletes and archers and is regarded as a guardian of the heavens.

The Artist:

Il Sodoma was born in northwestern Italy in 1477, under his given name, Giovanni Antonioi Bazzi. It is uncertain whether he chose the moniker “Il Sodoma” himself or whether the name was bestowed upon him, but in any case, the artist became universally known by it and used it in official correspondence and documents.

Il Sodoma studied with several artists and acquired the style of the Lombard school before arriving in Siena by 1502. He was the first painter of the High Renaissance in Siena and completed many commissions of both religious and secular themes.

The Sienese patron Agostino Chigi invited Il Sodoma to Rome in 1508 where Pope Julius commissioned work in the Stanza della Segnatura. He worked at the same time as Raphael. Within two years he returned to Siena where he worked on the exterior of the Palazzo Chigi. He began showing influences from the Florentine school, was successful in Siena, and returned to Rome where he painted scenes from the life of Alexander the Great at the Villa Chigi. He was patronized by Pope Leo X who made him a cavaliere, a knight. He also worked in Pisa and Lucca and returned to Siena where he died in either 1549 or 1554.