Standing man representing a statue
Master of the Martyrdom of St. Sebastian
1657 · Ivory · European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
This serene figure is believed to have been part of an elaborate composite relief of the Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian, now in Linz, Austria; some of the original elements have long been dispersed. Ivory suited the style of the anonymous mid-seventeenth-century Austrian sculptor, who took great delight in portraying extreme corporeality, even in this personal take on the famed Roman marble called the Farnese Hercules. The sagging musculature of the idol behind the arrow-pierced figure of Saint Sebastian is emblematic of the decline of pagan religion.
- Artist
- Master of the Martyrdom of St. Sebastian
- Date
- 1657
- Medium
- Ivory
- Culture
- Austrian
- Department
- European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
- Credit line
- Purchase, Malcolm Hewitt Wiener Foundation, Alexis Gregory and Friends of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts Gifts, 2004
