Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Guido Reni, who so many see as the arch-typical presenter of St. Sebastian, generally portrays the martyr-saint standing, in an attitude of the quiet acceptance of his lot and with his doe eyes turned heavenward. However, number of artists paint the martyr saint with his head thrown back as if in reaction to the excruciating pain of the piercing arrows, particularly in the XVIIth Century. Not only is the head thrown back, but the mouth is drawn in suffering and the eyes clouded with pain or tightly closed. In many cases the body mirrors this agony. --e.g., Carlo Saraceni (c. 1610-1615) (See: Figure 48) shows the martyr-saint clasping the arrow piercing his abdomen while his head is thrown back and his mouth reflects the pain; Giulio Cesare Procaccini (c. 1610) (See: Figure 111); Aegidius Sadeler after Raphael (b. 1628) (See: Figure 112) indicates the brows knitted in pain and the mouth drawn down; Anthony van Dyck (c. 1630) (See: Figure 110) shows the martyr-saint's head thrown back and mouth drawn in pain; an engraving after Ludovico Lana (c. 1643) (See: Figure 113) shows the martyr-saint's head lolling to the side with a pained expression; and Carlo Ceresa's (a. 1650) (See: Figure 114), St. Sebastian's body torques violently, his left hand is thrown up and his face mirrors his agony..


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