Currently not on view
Saint Sebastian,
ca. 1480 or later
Liberale da Verona, Italian, 1445–1529
y1935-25
Saint Sebastian of Milan, a Christian soldier in the Roman imperial army, was marked for execution during the rule of the emperor Diocletian for converting new believers and fortifying martyrs in their faith. Ordered by Diocletian to be tied to a post and shot with arrows, the saint miraculously survived; after he was healed, he was beaten to death. Fastened to a tree, Liberale’s muscular Sebastian reflects the keen interest of Italian Renaissance artists in reviving the robust sculptural nudes of ancient Greece and Rome.
More About This Object
Information
Title
Saint Sebastian
Dates
ca. 1480 or later
Maker
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
126 × 43.2 cm (49 5/8 × 17 in.)
frame: 156.5 × 76.8 × 15.2 cm (61 5/8 × 30 1/4 × 6 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Henry White Cannon Jr., Class of 1910, in memory of his father
Object Number
y1935-25
Culture
Type
Subject
Andrea Monga (1794-1861), Verona; By descent to his son, Cav. Pietro Monga (?-?), Verona; Purchased from him by Jean Paul Richter (1847-1937) in Verona in February 1888; Purchased from him by Henry White Cannon (1850-1934) in Florence on March 10, 1906; By descent to his son, Henry (Harry) W. Cannon, Jr. (1887-1966), Class of 1910; Donated to the Museum in 1935.
- Jean Paul Richter, A descriptive catalogue of old masters of the Italian school, (Florence: Galileiana, 1907-1914)., no. 6; p. 48-50
- Bernard Berenson, North Italian painters of the Renaissance, (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1907)., p. 244
- Eugenio Levi, A history of the suppressed Convent of San Michele alla Doccia sotto Fiesole, Florence: founded in 1411, now the property of Mr. Henry White Cannon, followed by a brief account of the religious orders of Italy, (Florence: Tipografia Giuntina, 1911)., opposite p. 166 (illus.)
- Bernard Berenson, Italian pictures of the Renaissance: a list of the principal artists and their works, with an index of places, (Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1932)., p. 268
- Jean Paul Richter, The Cannon Collection of italian paintings of the Renaissance: mostly of the Veronese School..., (Princeton, NJ: Princetion University Press, 1936)., no. 15; p. 21-22; fig. 15
- Carlo Del Bravo, "Liberale in patria", Arte Veneta, Rivista di Storia dell'Arte 1963, 17, (1964): p. 41-49., p. 41
- Carlo Del Bravo, Liberale da Verona, (Firenze: Edizioni d’arte Il fiorino, 1967)., p. 201 (illus.)
- Bernard Berenson, Italian pictures of the Renaissance: a list of the principal artists and their works with an index of places. Central Italian and North Italian schools, (London: Phaidon, 1968)., p. 205
- B. B. Fredericksen and F. Zeri, Census of pre-nineteenth-century Italian paintings in North American collections, (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1972)., p. 104
- Barbara T. Ross, "The Mather years 1922-1946," in "An art museum for Princeton: the early years", special issue, Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 55, no. 1/2 (1996): p. 53–76., p. 65, fig. 17
- Sergio Marinelli and Paola Marini, eds. Mantegna e le Arti a Verona 1450-1500. September 16, 2006-January 14, 2007. Verona, Gran Guardia (Venezia: Marsilio, 2006)., 272-273, ill.
