Terms and conditions of use
Saint Sebastian being cured by Irene
(c. 1653)
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Measurements
- 142.0 × 195.7 cm
- Place/s of Execution
- Naples, Campania, Italy
- Accession Number
- 214-4
- Department
- International Painting
- Credit Line
- National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Felton Bequest, 1934
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Digitisation Champion Ms Carol Grigor through Metal Manufactures Limited - Gallery location
- 14th - 16th Century Gallery - Painting & Decorative Arts
Level 1, NGV International - About this work
-
A member of the Roman imperial guard in the second century, Saint Sebastian used his position to encourage imprisoned Christians to persevere in their faith. Arrested and accused before the pagan emperors Maximian and Diocletian, Sebastian was tied to a stake, shot at with arrows and left for dead. Miraculously surviving this torture, he was nursed back to health by Irene, the widow of another martyr, only to be arrested again and bludgeoned to death in the Hippodrome. The dramatic lighting and taut compression of space employed here by Luca Giordano are typical of work he made during his early years in Naples.
- Subjects (general)
- Human Figures Religion and Mythology
- Subjects (specific)
- executions by arrows healing Irene, Saint (Christian character) Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian (Christian iconography) men (male humans) Saint Sebastian Tended by Saint Irene (Christian iconography) Sebastian, Saint (Christian character) suffering