Saint Sebastian In Stone - Burgundy, Late 15th Century

This sculpture in the round, carved from Tonnerre stone, depicts the martyrdom of Saint Sebastian, condemned by the Emperor Diocletian to be pierced by arrows. His wrists bound around a tree trunk against which he is leaning, the holy martyr appears relaxed, his body languid, his eyelids lowered, despite the arrows piercing his legs and chest. This indolence is reminiscent of that of Saint Sebastian in the church of Semur-en-Auxois (Côte-d'Or), formerly attributed to Antoine Le Moiturier (1425-1495), sculptor at the ducal court of Burgundy. Indeed, our image maker is inspired here by this model, which enjoyed considerable success among the region's sculptors at the end of the 15th century. This is evidenced by the Saint Sebastian in the church of Mont-Saint-Jean (Côte-d'Or), which takes up the same style by framing the martyr's face with long, wavy hair, similar to that used in our piece. Dressed in a simple loincloth, leaning on his outstretched right leg, his slightly bent left leg released forward, the formula taken up by the sculptures in this corpus testifies to the influence of the early Renaissance on these works presenting a sketch of the contrapposto and a fine observation of the saint's anatomy. This antiquing sensibility, in embryo in our sculpture, fully blossoms in the Saint Sebastian in the church of Saint-Pouange (Aube), created a little further north in the first quarter of the 15th century