St. Sebastian
Lorenzo Costa
Italian, ca. 1460–1535

Details
Title
St. Sebastian
Artist/Maker
Lorenzo Costa (Italian, ca. 1460–1535)
Date
ca. 1480s
Medium
Tempera on panel
Dimensions
14 7/8 x 5 1/2 inches (FRAMED IN PAIRS)
Credit
Gift of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation
Accession #
58.39 B
St. Sebastian is one of eight saints Lorenzo Costa painted in the late 1400s. The graceful figures originally flanked a central devotional image on a monumental altarpiece, likely in or near Bologna, Italy. The saints are identifiable by their attributes and by their names, which are inscribed underneath them in a northern Italian dialect. Devotees used this information to find the saints who were most relevant to their personal needs. The arrows shot through St. Sebastian’s body refer to his torture at the hands of the Romans. Because he survived the attack, he was invoked as protection against the plague. Archers, soldiers, and the ill would have recognized these visual cues and prayed to him.
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