Saint Sebastian
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Meister der Johannesstatuen
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Saint Sebastian , Saint , German , Sebastian , Conservation
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Abstract
Near the door leading to the Chapel of the Holy Child and the sacristy in Santa Maria in Aracoeli in Rome hangs a fifteenth-century terracotta statue of Saint Sebastian, housed in an eighteenth-century niche. Saint Sebastian, a Christian martyr and Roman soldier executed for his faith, is traditionally depicted tied to a post and pierced with numerous arrows. While described in the Golden Legend as an old man with a beard and so many arrows that he resembles a hedgehog, he is more commonly portrayed as a young, beardless figure with relatively few arrows, as in this sculpture.
A restoration undertaken between 1970 and 1971 dated the statue to the late fifteenth century and attributed it to the German circle of the so-called "Meister der Johannesstatuen," an artist trained in Florence. The statue shows evidence of damage, including the loss of a hand, a big toe, and Sebastian's penis. The absence of the latter may be due to a later prudish intervention or an original omission, as the groin would have been covered by a loincloth or similar garment.
Only faint traces of the original polychrome paint and gilding, particularly on the hair, are still visible today. The statue was relocated to its current niche around 1736, when its original position in the church was re-dedicated to the Madonna of Loreto.
Photograph(s) licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence.
Description
Santa Maria in Aracoeli, Rome
Citation
Laura Russo, Santa Maria in Aracoeli (Rome: Ellio de Rosa editore, 2007), 83, 92 ;“San Sebastiano,” Catalogo generale dei Beni Culturali, https://catalogo.beniculturali.it/detail/HistoricOrArtisticProperty/1200248952.