St Sebastian Healed by an Angel

1603 · Private collection

religious

Baglione's tender image of an angel delicately extracting an arrow from St Sebastian's side is indicative of the new emphasis placed on succour and compassion during the post-Tridentine period by the Oratorians and other religious orders. Images of St Sebastian bound to a tree and pierced with arrows had become increasingly popular from the fifteenth century on, partly because they gave artists an excuse to depict the male nude within a religious context. The inclusion of an angel tending the saint's wounds is very rare, but undoubtedly reflects devotional literature that recounted how Christ sent an angel to untie Sebastian and cure his wounds.

About the Artist

Giovanni Baglione

1566 – 1643

Roman painter, one of Caravaggio 's strongest personal adversaries in Roman artistic circles, who is known to posterity almost exclusively through his very sober and reliable "Vite de' Pittori" (Lives of Painters), published at the end of his long lifetime. His animosity toward Caravaggio is shown in almost every line of his biography. On the other hand, he was despised and derided by Caravaggio's clique. As an artist Baglione was, strangely enough, a follower of Caravaggio, especially in his use of light and dark. He published a long list of his works at the end of his autobiography, but in spite of some very interesting performances, he never really developed a consistent and expressive artistic personality.

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