Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian (Pollaiuolo)
| The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian | |
|---|---|
National Gallery , London |
The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian is a large
History
The Pucci family commissioned the work as the altarpiece for the family chapel, the oratory dedicated to Saint Sebastian in the church of Santissima Annunziata, Florence. Giorgio Vasari dates it to 1475, attributing it solely to Antonio del Pollaiuolo, but it is today usually seen as a joint work, no doubt also involving assistants from their workshops.[2]
Roberto Pucci withdrew the work from the oratory on the pretext of restoration but then in 1857 sold it to the National Gallery.
Analysis
The painting is considered Antonio's masterpiece, with a more rigid geometric control on the composition than in his previous works, without giving up his usual naturalness of poses and movement – the four archers in the foreground form two symmetrical poses, with the two central ones reloading and the two on the edges firing, in perfect equilibrium either side of the central post to which Sebastian is tied.
It can be contrasted with its near-contemporary, the
Gallery
-
Sandro Botticelli, Saint Sebastian, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin, 1474 -
Francesco Botticini, Saint Sebastian, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, after 1474
Notes
- ^ National Gallery page
- ^ Davies, 444
References
- ISBN 0901791296
- Aldo Galli, I Pollaiolo, "Galleria delle arti" series number 7, Milano, 5 Continents Editions, 2005, p. 36.
- Alessandro Cecchi, Botticelli e l’età di Lorenzo il Magnifico, in the series "I grandi maestri dell’arte. L’artista e il suo tempo", Firenze, E – ducation.it, 2007, p. 115.
- National Gallery site
External links
Media related to Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian by Antonio and Piero del Pollaiolo at Wikimedia Commons
