Saint Sebastian (Antonello da Messina)
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| Saint Sebastian |
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| Antonello da Messina , around 1478 |
| Transferred from wood to canvas |
| 171.3 x 86.5 cm |
| Old Masters Picture Gallery |
The painting Saint Sebastian by the Italian painter Antonello da Messina is in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden.
Historical image descriptions
“ Saint Sebastian. The saint stands on the tiles of an urban square, clad only in a loincloth, seen almost from the front, with his hands behind his back tied to a tree. He is already pierced by five arrows. In the middle distance between two palaces there are three round arched passages through which one can see more distant streets and palaces on the water, while their roof forms a terrace from which the spectators can look down. Below left a sleeping man, seen from the front for a shortened view. "
So much for the entry in Karl Woermanns' gallery catalog from 1887, as always, kept short because of its handiness and purpose as a catalog.
The description in a standard work on the history of Italian painting from 1876 is more detailed:
“Sebastian, a beardless youth with long falling hair, cut short over the forehead, a thin apron around the hips, is pierced by 4 arrows, the body ¾ turned to the right; with his right leg stretched out a little, with his arms tied back to a tree trunk, he looks up at the sky with a gently surrendered expression, his lips seemingly open in prayer. It stands in the middle of a wide paved courtyard, which is surrounded by Venetian houses with battlements and high fire dinners and is closed at the back by a connecting gallery with two arches, on which oriental carpets hang on both sides, behind which 4 ladies are visible. In the foreground on the right lies an overturned stump of a column; In the middle distance you can see an officer on the right, pointing to the saint, speaking to the guard standing in front of him, behind them on the other side of the arched gallery two old men, one of whom is wearing priestly regalia, talking to each other, on the left a soldier lies in a steep foreshortening stretched out asleep and behind him stands a woman from the people with her sleeping child in her arms. Through the arches of the middle distance you can see a monastery surrounded by groups of trees on the bank of a canal, and on the plan that separates this and the mountains behind it from the front buildings, several small figures emerge from the houses on the left and two men walk on the right in Venetian senatorial costume, apparently in lively conversation; white flakes of clouds move in the sky. "
Current receptions
Antonello painted the picture during his stay in Venice in 1475/76, shortly before the end of his life; it is to be regarded as a central late work. The painting is the greatest embodiment of Antonello's late, mature style. For a newcomer to the lagoon city, it was certainly possible to combine all of his skills in one work in order to be able to stand up to the demanding artistic competition and the clientele. The result is a real feat that has all the characteristics of an artistic competition.
The Saint
The hl. Sebastian stands naked in the classic pose of contrapost, tied to a tree in the bright light coming from the top left. The position chosen by Antonello with the free leg pushed down gives the saint a uniform movement, which, through the upward looking view, points beyond the figure and thus reinforces the sacred character of the transfigured martyr. Antonello may have orientated himself on the figure of Christ in Piero della Francesca's picture The Flagellation of Christ . Due to the very low vanishing point of the perspective behind the right shin, the painter continues to achieve a pronounced monumentalization of the sacred.
Sebastian was hit by 5 arrows, blood is running from the wounds. However, it shows no expression of pain, and the archers cannot be seen either. The sparing and even distribution of the arrows over the body and the lack of brutal henchmen give the figure a contemplative character, which also brings the portrayal of Sebastian's beauty to the fore. At this point, Antonio Pollaiuolo's martyrdom from the National Gallery in London and Andrea Mantegna's Sebastian from Venice, who are more like the martyrdom of St. Emphasize Sebastian.
Antonio Pollaiuolo Martyrdom of St. Sebastian (1475)
Andrea Mantegna St. Sebastian (1506)
His environment
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Sebastian is standing on a square, neatly laid out with tiles, which is surrounded by Venetian architecture in an extremely shortened perspective. The tree to which he is tied seems to grow out of the tiles so suddenly that it is almost standing on the tiles. This is only one detail of many that cannot be understood at first glance. In addition, there is the column drum on the right, the sudden transition to the rear raised level and the right house, which stands on the connecting passage, a statically daring undertaking.
The figure accessories are also puzzling. Two uniformed men stand together on the right, the more highly decorated obviously having something to say to the lower-ranking halberdier . The figure lying on the left in front of the house seems to be a soldier too, depending on the weapon next to it, who is either sleeping, sick or dead. Immediately behind this figure the tiled flooring of the square ends and the raised level begins with further figures. The figure's head and its weapon partially rest on the higher level. The pose of the figure with the leg drawn up and the hand cramped allows the theory that this is a sick person, because neither a sleeper nor a dead person can sustain this posture. This would make a reference to the saint's plague patronage possible. The plague was a constant threat in the late Middle Ages, to which Venice was particularly exposed due to its location as a trading center, so the famous painter Giorgione died of the plague in Venice in 1510.
Behind the reclining man to the left is a mother with her child, to the right of the saint there are two figures in rich robes, which are half hidden by a pillar. The figure in the golden robe wears a headgear that is similar to a tiara and the richly embroidered gold brocade cloak could also be an indication that it is the Pope . The other figure across from him is wearing a robe and beret that are similar to the judge's robes that are still in use today. Judges are also depicted in this costume in contemporary depictions, an example of which is the depiction of a judge with a judge's staff in the scene Adoration of the Magi of the fresco cycle in the Dominican monastery of San Marco in Florence by Fra Angelico .
A look at the history of Venice shows that the Pope is supposed to stand before the judge. Threatened by the Turks at the end of the 15th century, the Republic of Venice felt abandoned by Pope Sixtus IV , who pursued other political goals. This explains the scene hidden by the pillar, because Antonello certainly did not dare to openly portray this affront to the Pope.
Further back, figures walk in pairs in a calm lagoon landscape. Three women and a boy stand on the connecting corridor and watch the scenery; the covering of the parapet with carpets was typical of the time and can also be found in other contemporary paintings.
In summary, it can be said that Antonello sent his new home Venice a devotional image with this masterpiece, the strong contemporary references of which should identify Sebastian as a consistently reliable protector.
Samuel Beckett described the impression the picture made on him as “tremendous”: “... every time I stood rigidly in front of it. ... In the face of such a work, such a victory over real disorder, over the narrowness of heart and mind, it is difficult not to hang yourself. "
Attribution, provenance and restoration
“Also two masterpieces ... which, like few paintings in the gallery, express the essence of the Italian Quattrocento, only reached Dresden in the 1870s: Andrea Mantegna's “ holy family ”with its steely severity of form, color and expression and of Antonello da Messina “St. Sebastian “, not a martyrdom full of blood and lamentation, as later demanded, but the representation of a beautiful, even youthful act in a clear, cubic space, in the midst of the contemplative life of a Venetian cityscape."
The picture was acquired in 1873 at an exhibition of paintings by old masters organized parallel to the Vienna World Exhibition for 6,000 thaler. This exhibition took place in the Austrian Museum , the exhibition committee included such well-known personalities as Chlodwig zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst , Karl Graf Lanckoroński and Moritz Thausing .
The picture (catalog no. 2) was given to the exhibition by Johann Christian Endris as a work by Giovanni Bellini . Endris had power of attorney at the Viennese wholesale company Elkan von Elkansberg, Vienna, Wollzeile 863. The assignment of authorship to Antonello da Messina was done by Mr. Crowe and Mr. Cavalcaselle , who
"How 'generals' appeared on the 'battlefield' and whose opinion the administration of the Dresden gallery immediately made theirs."
Representatives of the opinion that the painting was alternatively by the Veronese Francesco Bonsignori or Pietro da Messina therefore had no chance.
Johann Christian Endris had acquired the work from the collection of the respected obstetrician Hussian. In addition to hand drawings and engravings, this collection also contained a number of paintings by Italian masters and was auctioned after Hussian's death in 1869 in the Miethke und Wawra art dealer in Vienna. In the auction catalog, the painting is listed under No. 14 as a work by Bellini. Johann Christian Endris acquired the painting either at the auction or afterwards, possibly in the aftermath . This is supported by the missing entry of an auction result in the present source.
In the catalog, the picture is referred to as a "gift from a Pope to the Bishop of Kremsier ". This could be a confirmation that the picture was once in the collection of Carl von Liechtenstein , Bishop of Olomouc.
In 1654 the picture appeared in an inventory of the collection of Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel as “St. Sebastian d'Antonello da Messina ”. This Earl, who died in Padua in 1646, was known for his collection of Venetian paintings. A reference is this inventory list and other sources testify that the picture was painted on behalf of the Scuola Grande di San Rocco as an altar panel for the parish church of San Giuliano in Venice. The Scuola di San Rocco was founded in Venice in 1478 in response to an epidemic of the plague that killed 15,000 people.
From 1999 to 2002 the work was in the workshops of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden by Dipl.-Rest. Ohlhoff has been thoroughly restored, and the artist's signature was rediscovered, which finally confirms the attribution of Crowe / Cavalcaselle. The painting can now be experienced again in all the sophistication of its coloring.
Web links
- Saint Sebastian in the online collection of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden
Individual evidence
- ^ Karl Woermann : Catalog of the Royal Picture Gallery in Dresden. General Directorate of the Royal Collections for Art and Science, Dresden 1887.
- ^ A b Joseph A. Crowe, Giovanni Battista Cavalcaselle : History of Italian painting. Volume 6. Hirzel, Leipzig 1876. ( online )
- ↑ a b c d e f Andreas Henning, Günter Ohlhoff (Ed.) Antonello da Messina, The Holy Sebastian. Cabinet exhibition on the occasion of the restoration of the painting (= Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden. The restored masterpiece. Vol. 2). Sandstein, Dresden 2005, ISBN 3-937602-49-6 .
- ↑ a b Jan Lauts: Antonello da Messina. Schroll, Vienna 1940.
- ↑ a b Harald Marx (ed.): Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister Dresden. Volume 1: The exhibited works. König, Cologne 2005, ISBN 3-86560-005-0 .
- ↑ Sabine Poeschel: Handbuch der Ikonographie. Sacred and profane themes in the visual arts. 3rd, revised edition. Primus-Verlag, Darmstadt 2009, ISBN 978-3-89678-659-3 .
- ↑ Sources for the use of judges' staff in the Middle Ages, accessed on February 19, 2012 .
- ↑ Ferdinand Philippi: History of Venice (= general historical pocket library for everyone. Vol. 19.2 , ZDB -ID 1030255-4 ). Second ribbon. Hilscher, Dresden, 1828.
- ↑ S. Beckett, Letters 1941–1956. Frankfurt a. M. 2014. p. 176.
- ^ Catalog of original paintings by old masters, collection of Dr. Hussian [...], which will be auctioned by Miethke & Wawra on February 15 and 16, 1869 in the Great Hall of the New Artists' House (Lothringerstrasse). Miethke & Wawra art dealer, Vienna 1869.
- ↑ State. Dresden art collections; Judith Claus, Gudula Metze, Andreas Henning et al. (Ed.): Exhibition catalog at the cradle of art. Italian drawings and paintings from Giotto to Botticelli. Deutscher Kunstverlag, Berlin and Munich, 2014, p. 185