Saint Sebastian

Bartolommeo Montagna

Summary

A reproduction produced by the Vasari Society of a drawing by Bartolommeo Montagna. The drawing shows a figure of a man with his hands tied behind his back and with a tree behind him. This man is Saint Sebastian and is identifiable by the arrows piercing his chest, abdomen, arm and thigh. He is naked apart from a cloth around his hips. The saint has shoulder length wavy hair and a fringe. Text from the accompanying booklet produced by the Vasari Society: "No. 9 BARTOLOMEO MONTAGNA (b. about 1450; d. 1523) ST. SEBASTIAN Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, from the Kerrich Collection. Pen and bistre, with brush work, heightened with white. 25.2 x 6.7 cm. (9 15/16 x 2 5/8 in.) This drawing does not correspond exactly with any of the painted St. Sebastians by the strong master of Vicenza, which have come down to us. Yet the massive build of the saint's body, the sharp contrast of light and shadow, as seen on the legs, the firmness of the feet planted on the ground at right angles to each other, are points of close kinship with the figure of the martyr which is to be seen in that capital work of Montagna's early phase - the pala once adorning the high altar of San Bartolommeo of Vicenza, now in the Museo Civico of that town. Another drawing by Montagna, which is intimately related to the same figure, has passed from the von Beckerath collection to the Berlin Museum. The technique of the Cambridge drawing - which, unfortunately, has not escaped restorations - is one frequently met with in Montagna. TANCRED BORENIUS"