Ask the Scholar
Document scope · 2 pages
Scholar
Ask about this object, its catalog metadata, its source description, or the page inventory.
For page-specific OCR and visual context, open one of the page chats.
Source Description
Saint Sebastian was a Roman commander who, according to legend, was executed under Emperor Diocletian (284-305) for being a Christian. First, soldiers attempted to kill him by shooting him with arrows, but he miraculously survived. He was then beaten to death.In Rimpacta's image, the soldiers depart in the background, thinking they have killed the saint. He is depicted in a beautiful landscape, perhaps to show us that, through his faith and sufferings, he has entered Paradise.Sebastian was among the saints who were believed to protect people from the plague. The painting is probably an "ex-voto," an image commissioned in gratitude for protection against the disease and dedicated to the saint by the wealthy kneeling woman in the foreground, who has placed herself and her children under his protection.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
38921
label
Saint Sebastian
core
obj
dtoType
drawing
citationUrl
pageCount
2
Source metadata
id
38921
sourceUrl
contentType
drawing
stage
normalized
title
Saint Sebastian
description
Saint Sebastian was a Roman commander who, according to legend, was executed under Emperor Diocletian (284-305) for being a Christian. First, soldiers attempted to kill him by shooting him with arrows, but he miraculously survived. He was then beaten to death.In Rimpacta's image, the soldiers depart in the background, thinking they have killed the saint. He is depicted in a beautiful landscape, perhaps to show us that, through his faith and sufferings, he has entered Paradise.Sebastian was among the saints who were believed to protect people from the plague. The painting is probably an "ex-voto," an image commissioned in gratitude for protection against the disease and dedicated to the saint by the wealthy kneeling woman in the foreground, who has placed herself and her children under his protection.
provenance
Don Marcello Massarenti Collection, Rome [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1902, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
date
ca. 1505 (Renaissance)
citationUrl
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
Painting & Drawing
paintings
imageCount
2
pageCount
2
source
import
dimensions
units
cm
width
99
height
74.7
dimensionsRaw
Painted surface H: 39 x W: 29 7/16 in. (99 x 74.7 cm); Panel H: 39 x W: 30 x D excluding cradle: 3/8 in. (99 x 76.2 x 1 cm)
Source extras
med
oil and gold leaf on wood panel
creator_ids
5134
collection_ids
REN
exhibition_ids
none
Page inventory
seq
1
type
photo
mediaId
116430aa0deeb6d3
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
2
type
photo
mediaId
1909dbe6247fa0e8
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no