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Saint Sebastian
Indo-Portuguese
Polychrome and gilded gessoed wood
17th Century
122 cm (H) x 57 cm (W) x 40 cm (D)
MASF465
St. Sebastian, from an Indo-Portuguese workshop, possibly from Goa, from the mid-17th century, in gessoed wood, painted and gilded. St. Sebastian is shown on a small rise, bound hand and foot to a tree, evoking his martyrdom.
Far from the much more discreet Portuguese tradition of the 1500s, which revealed a greater sobriety in the description of the gestures of the Saint, here he is presented with boldness, making a gesture with his hands and having one foot slightly to the front.
The worship of St. Sebastian was very popular in Portugal during the 15th and 16th centuries, and remained so throughout the 17th century all around the Portuguese world. In the 16th century, many orders were placed with the Flemish ateliers in Brussels, Antwerp and Malines, along with many other images that existed during the 15th century, coming from Portuguese workshops, especially in the region of Coimbra.
The popularity of the worship was due to the special protection of the Saint in times of the pestilence, above all in urban centres. St. Sebastian was also the patron saint of archers and artillery men.
In the present case, an interesting feature is the introduction of an oriental flavour into the traditional Portuguese hagiography with its own iconographic rules, setting forth liberties in composition and description that were very unusual up to that time.
St. Sebastian is traditionally shown tied to a tree or a pruned branch1 that sprouts forth, a clear allegory to the idea of the Resurrection. Here, he is completely gilded, as are the ropes that bind the image by the arms and ankles, or furthermore the cloth in which the saint is wrapped, tucked up on the right side.
Inspired by the Portuguese continental models, it was carved in a non-erudite workshop, which is seen in the pleasing interpretation of the anatomy, or in the way the hair is allowed to fall in waves over the back, with two great wavy tresses ending in curls on the torso.
1 Compare this with Indo-Portuguese images of St. Sebastian in ivory. A Expansão Portuguesa e a Arte do Marfim, Coord. Francisco Hipólito Raposo, Comissão Nacional para a Comemoração dos Descobrimentos Portugueses, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, 1991, p. 180. |
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