Title

Saint Sebastian

Antonio Vázquez [attributed to] (¿Ávila?, 1485 - ?, 1563)

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Object history

Eric Young (1979) attributed the panels of San Sebastián and San Roque to Santa Cruz, a painter active in Castile in the early 16th century. Young (1979) dated them to 1501, since a document indicated that the master was going to focus his work on the main altar of the cathedral of Avila, however, he died before 1508. Both panels must have belonged to the same altarpiece, since both their compositions, their size and the Gothic framework that frames them coincide. Isabel Mateo (1984) questioned the attribution made by Young and, instead, argued that both paintings had been executed by Antonio Vázquez. To make this assertion, Mateo based herself on the previous studies undertaken by Martín González (1957), who had defined the characteristics of Vázquez. According to Mateo (1984), "the round modeling of the heads, which are pointed at the chin by the prolonged chin, the hairstyle with parting in the middle, the light given by the left, the nimbuses emanating rays from the head, the fine decoration of the border that borders the mantles and, above all, the peculiar way of making the ears, of large size and pronounced relief" would be key to attributing the paintings to Vázquez. Likewise, the limited presence of gold nimbus and the prominence of the landscape in these panels suggest that they were made at an advanced date in the painter's production, probably at the end of the 1530s (Martín González, 1957; Mateo, 1984).

The original location of the panels is unknown, but if we follow Mateo's hypothesis (1984) and think that the author is Antonio Vázquez, it is most likely that they were in Valladolid. Vázquez had carried out works for Pozuelo de la Orden, Simancas, Villabáñez, Tordehumos, etc., so it seems plausible. Nor do we know how they left their original location, perhaps they were first in a private collection, like the Triptych of the Annunciation, which ended up in the Badrinas collection in Barcelona. In any case, in the first quarter of the 20th century the two paintings were bought by Henry Wellcome, who was in the pharmaceutical industry. After Wellcome's death, the two panels remained in his museum: The Wellcome Collection.

Description

A gothic armor frames the composition, in the center of which is represented Saint Sebastian. The saint appears tied to a tree and has fourteen arrows stuck in his body, attributes of his martyrdom. Eight of these fourteen arrows have been repainted, something that could be seen in 1966 after cleaning the work. The modeling of Saint Sebastian's head is round and his hair is combed with a parting in the middle, characteristic of Vázquez. Likewise, the landscape is reminiscent of Juan de Borgoña and Pedro de Cisneros, where the tree plays a singular role in the composition. The face of the saint is repeated in other paintings by Vázquez: in San Bernardo, currently in the Museum of Valladolid, in San Juan de la Crucifixión in Simancas or in San Sebastián de Villabáñez (Mateo, 1984).

Locations

• XVI^th c.

  province

  Possible origin in the province of Valladolid, Valladolid (Spain)

• First quarter of the XX^th c. - present

  museum

  Wellcome Collection, London (United Kingdom)