Bright light from the upper left washes over a young man pierced with arrows, an angel, and a young woman, who together fill this vertical painting. The three cluster closely against a black background, and all of them have pale, peachy skin. The muscular young man at the center, Saint Sebastian, faces us and appears to be seated with his right leg bent, to our left. The heel of that foot is braced on a round, golden brown object that might be the back of a shield. Saint Sebastian’s shin is pierced by two arrows. His head is thrown back as his glistening brown eyes roll back to gaze up and…
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Saint Sebastian

Tanzio da Varallo (Piedmontese, c. 1575 - 1633)

c. 1620/1630

Medium
oil on canvas
Classification
Painting
Dimensions
overall: 117.3 × 93.7 cm (46 3/16 × 36 7/8 in.) ; framed: 145.42 × 123.19 × 7.62 cm (57 1/4 × 48 1/2 × 3 in.)
Culture
Piedmontese
Museum
National Gallery of Art, CIS-B
Credit line
Samuel H. Kress Collection
Rights
Public domain (NGA Open Access, CC0), as the museum states it.
Who can see it
Adult profiles and older: its museum's description or title mentions nudity. How works are placed

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