1 / 9
figurine of a man holding a knife and a knife in his handfigurine of a man with a bow and arrow in his handan image of a statue of a man with a knife in his handa statue of a woman holding a knife and a knife in her handan image of a statue of a man with a snake in his handa statue of a man with a knife in his handan image of a statue of a man with a knife in his handwooden statue of a man with a knife and a hatwooden statue of a man with an elephant on his back
Premium La Suite Subastas

63 - Hispano-Flemish School. Circa 1500.

Estimate €10,000 - €12,000
Sale commission
Description
Hispano-Flemish School. Circa 1500. 'Saint Sebastian' Carved and polychromed wooden sculpture. 87,5 x 23 x 18 cm. Saint Sebastian was a martyr born in Narbonne who served as a soldier in the Roman army and was appointed by the Emperor Diocletian as the leader of the first cohort of the imperial praetorian guard. From a young age, he had professed his faith in Christ and, in fact, used to engage in evangelistic activities among his fellow soldiers. While carrying out one of these activities, when he exhorted his companions Marcus and Marcellian to remain steadfast in the Christian faith, he was discovered, denounced, imprisoned, and, by order of the emperor, martyred in the Field of Mars in Rome. The soldiers stripped him and tied him to a post, and once the archers were ready, they began to shoot arrows at him. Although it is commonly thought that this martyrdom led to his death, it was not so, as Irene, the wife of Castulus, healed his wounds. Saint Sebastian was one of the most popular saints for countering the plague, the 'depulsor pestilitatis,' in the Middle Ages, due to the existence of an ancient legend that said, 'the people perceived the plague as a rain of arrows launched by an angry god. In truth, Saint Sebastian does not shoot arrows, on the contrary, he served as a target for them. However, according to the legend, he would have been pierced by a multitude of arrows without dying from them. His devotees came to the conclusion that he could also immunise them against the arrows of the plague. The sculpture we present shows the most common iconography used in the late 15th century. Consequently, the saint has been depicted as a young beardless youth - until then, it was customary to depict him as an elderly, bearded man due to his position as captain of the emperor's guard - completely naked except for the loincloth covering his private parts. The folds of the cloth are horizontal, with fairly shallow carving, and the knot or bow is arranged at his left hip. The polychrome has turned a simple white cloth into a luxurious cloth with obscured golden vegetation decoration and bordered on all edges with an elaborate imitation of black lace. The artistic representation of this martyrdom was a transposition of the iconography of the flagellation of Christ. That is why sometimes the tree was replaced by a column, although on this occasion the anonymous author has conceived a barely perceptible tree since the sculpture is not carved - and therefore not polychromed - on its back, which also indicates that it was designed for an altarpiece. Also focusing on this same theme, neither the hands, tied behind his back, nor much of the head are carved. The saint stands on a piece of ground, with his hands tied to the tree behind his back. His body is pierced by five large arrows that have struck his arms, shoulders, chest, and abdomen. He advances one leg, giving the composition a certain dynamism; on this occasion, he his right leg is forward, while his left leg is drawn back to the base of the tree. A curiousity to note is that both feet are protected by shoes, as it is common for them to be bare. He has a well-proportioned anatomy that does not fall into either schematism or extreme realism, although some of the saint's bones are noticeable, indicating that the sculptor was a gifted master. The saint turns his head to the right, directing his gaze towards the sky. His face is oval-shaped and has features that defined the work of some Hispano-Flemish masters of the time: an oval head, an expressionless countenance, chubby cheeks, a sharp nose, a small and closed mouth, a prominent chin, etc. His head is covered by a curious headdress, perhaps a cap or a beret, very common in these moments of transition between the 15th and 16th centuries. He has medium-length hair that is symmetrically distributed on both sides of his head, making a triangular shaped composition. We would like to thank Dr. Javier Baladrón, doctor of Art History, for the identification and cataloguing of this work.
About the sale Dialogues with the Past: Vestigia
Auction location
Auction time 07/02/2026 at 7:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
You may also like