Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art

About this Work

One of Jusepe de Ribera’s most beautiful drawings, this work demonstrates the artist’s expert handling of the chalk medium for shading and contour, his understanding of human anatomy, and his dramatic use of contortion in the figure’s elegant, sinuous pose, which echoes the slight S-curve of the tree trunk.

Although not related to any known paintings and lacking traditional attributes—such as the arrows of Saint Sebastian’s martyrdom—the motif of the kneeling or seated figure tied to a tree stump has been linked to other sketches of Saint Sebastian by the artist. In any case, the emotional impact of the scene does not depend on the narrative details of the religious story, but rather on the subtle expressiveness of the martyr’s fingers, the tilt of his head, the tension of his muscles, and the weight of his body as he slumps to the ground. The popularity of this horrific theme in Ribera’s oeuvre reflects the spiritual intensity and mysticism of the Spanish Counter-Reformation and the emotionalism of Baroque art.