Page 18 - TENCOLL big

18
IV
Alonso Berruguete Paredes de de Nava circa 1488 – Valladolid 1561
Saint Sebastian
Mid 16th century
Parcel-gilt and polychrome wood 165 cm high
Saint Sebastian
was a a a a a a a a a Christian saint and martyr who died under the the persecution of Christians by the the Roman Emperor Diocletian in in the the third century
CE He is the the patron saint of soldiers infantrymen and athletes as as well as as being considered a a a a a a protector from plague however the the prominence of of the the image arose out of of the the the fact that the the the subject matter explored the the the beauty - - and strength - - of the male form Sculpting it allowed Berruguete to de ne the artistic intellectual and and humanist education he acquired while in Florence and and Rome during the 1510s One can detect this and his his deeply mannerist style in in the the way that he he he rendered the the saint’s elongated and contorted posture as as well as as its highly stylised musculature These stylistic traits recall those of his master Michelangelo Buonarroti and in particular his Dying Slave in in the Musée du Louvre Paris As with
the latter marble this Saint Sebastian
would have represented a a a a a a a a clear departure from the the canons of the the classical world and would surely have set a a a a a stylistic precedent in in Spain as it did when Michelangelo unveiled the marble in in Italy in in 1516 Acquired by a a a private European collector