Portrait of a Youth as Saint Sebastian
late 1480s
Medium
oil on wood, transferred to pressed wood
Dimensions
unframed: 30.5 × 24 cm · framed: 47.5 × 41 × 4 cm
Classification
Painting
Department
European Painting and Sculpture
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
John L. Severance Fund
Accession Number
1986.9
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
About this artwork
Sebastian, a bodyguard for the ancient Roman emperor Diocletian, was shot with arrows and was eventually drowned for his commitment to Christianity. While the arrow alludes to Saint Sebastian, the young man’s clothing dates to the late 1400s, indicating that this is a contemporary portrait, rather than an image of the historical saint. This haunting image was influenced by the paintings of Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519), particularly in the artist’s use of smoky shadows (called sfumato) to model ...