St. Sebastian (1626–30): Art, History and Details

St. Sebastian (1626–30) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Jusepe de Ribera (Spanish, 1591–1652).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This subtly drawn study in red chalk with ink accents depicts the moment just before the Roman soldier Sebastian was shot through with arrows for refusing to renounce his Christian faith. The young martyr turns hopefully toward heaven as if comforted by divine light. Ribera favored the subject because it allowed him to study the expressive possibilities of the bound human figure. A number of related drawings by the artist from the same period treat similar themes of saints bound in punishment. Although Spanish by birth, Jusepe de Ribera spent most of his life in Naples, where he became the dominant artistic figure until his death in 1652.

Object facts

• Title: St. Sebastian
• Date: 1626–30
• Creator attribution: Jusepe de Ribera (Spanish, 1591–1652)
• Culture: Spain, active in Naples, 17th century
• Type: Drawing
• Technique: red chalk with pen and brown ink
• Dimensions: Sheet: 17.3 x 12.4 cm (6 13/16 x 4 7/8 in.)
• Collection: DR - Spanish
• Department: Drawings
• Accession number: 1997.53

A detail from the museum

This is one of a group of drawings by Jusepe de Ribera that represent male saints in scenes of torture and deprived of physical liberty.

Collection credit

Delia E. Holden Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Musée du Louvre, Catherine Monbeig-Goguel, and Walter Vitzthum. Le Dessin à Naples du XVIe siècle au XVIIIe siècle. XXXIXe exposition du Cabinet des dessins, Paris, 1967. [Catalogue. Paris: Réunion des musées nationaux, 1967.
• Vitzthum, Walter, and Annamaria Petrioli Tofani. Cento disegni napoletani, sec. xvi-xviii. Catalogo critico a cura di Walter Vitzthum. Firenze: L.S. Olschki, 1967.
• Vitzthum, Walter. Il barocco a Napoli e nell'Italia meridionale. Milano: Fratelli Fabbri, 1971.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.