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St. Sebastian

St. Sebastian

Artist/Maker (German, 1484/5–1545)
Date1514
MediumWoodcut
DimensionsSheet: 12 5/16 × 9 1/4 in. (31.3 × 23.5 cm)
Credit LineR. T. Miller Jr. Fund
Object number1945.6
Status
Not on view
More Information
The bound, arrow-laden figure in the foreground of this work is St. Sebastian (3rd-4th century AD), the Christian martyr who was tied to a post and shot with arrows by the orders of Roman Emperor Diocletian. First told by St. Ambrose, the story of St. Sebastian's torment and martyrdom became a popular subject of artistic representation in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Such depictions often emphasize his wounded, arrow-ridden body, shown here via strong contrasts of light and shadow. The lighting of Sebastian's body typifies Baldung's method of juxtaposing large areas of blank space with areas of densely grouped lines, frequently seen in his woodcuts from this period.
Exhibition History
Recent Acquisitions 1944-45
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH ( 1946-06 - 1946-06 )
Italian and Northern Renaissance Prints
  • Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD (March 15, 1966 - April 24, 1966 )
German Woodcuts of the Early Sixteenth Century
  • Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (April 26, 1972 - 1972-07 )
Setting the Scene: Landscaping in Prints and Drawings from the 16th through the 19th Centuries
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (September 10, 1993 - November 7, 1993 )
Quality and Technique in Prints
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (October 4, 1996 - December 22, 1996 )
German Renaissance Prints 1470-1550
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (August 27, 1999 - January 30, 2000 )
Printing Practice: Religious Prints from the Renaissance
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (September 6, 2012 - December 23, 2012 )
Between Fact and Fantasy: The Artistic Imagination in Print
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (January 17, 2014 - June 22, 2014 )
Collections
  • European
This record was created from historic documentation and may not have been reviewed by a curator. Noticed a mistake? Have some extra information about this object? Please contact us.