Saint Sebastian Bound to a Tre

Durer, Albrecht

196075 Durer, Albrecht Saint Sebastian Bound to a Tree (also known as St. Sebastian at the Tree) B.55; M., Holl. 62 c. 1501 4 1/2'' x 3 3/4'' Engraving on thin laid paper, trimmed on the platemark. Signed in the plate with monogram, lower right. Partial Ox head with of Five Petal Flower, Triangle and Two Cross-Lines watermark, dating the paper to before 1519. According to Walter Strauss, The Intaglio prints of Albrecht Durer, Engravings Etchings and Drypoints, 1971., a "pure, black" Meder A impression with burr on the trunk of the tree and very little wiping marks in the background. Moriz Thausing, Durer, Geschichte seines Lebens und siener Kunst, 1882 (director of the Albertini) comments that the engraving was influenced by the Italian renaissance master Jacopo De Barbari (active c.1497, d. 1516?) Venetian painter and engraver, who completed his own series of "captives". St. Sebastian was an officer in Rome in 283 A.D. Emperor Diocletian named him Commander of the Praetorian Guard, unaware that he had became a Christian. Sebastian sustained the courage of two imprisoned confessors, Mark and Marcellian, as well as other Christian prisoners. He did not conceal his faith and was arrested and sentenced to death by being shot with arrows. Irene, the widow of St. Castulus the martyr, took the still breathing Sebastian to a safe place and treated his wounds. Once cured, Sebastian defied the Emperor once again; this time he was stoned. He is buried in a catacomb near Via Appia. After Peter and Paul, Sebastian is the third patron of Rome. He is also the patron saint of gunsmiths and is invoked against plague and epilepsy. He is often depicted with an arrow, or arrows, in his body.

Reg. No.

196075

Size

4 1/2" x 3 3/4"

Medium

ENGRAVING

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