St Sebastian Tended by the Holy Women
by RIBERA, Jusepe de, Oil on canvas, 180 x 232 cm
In this large canvas, the figure of the saint lies naked on the ground, one arm still suspended from the tree of martyrdom. The holy women Irene and Lucilla tend the saint, one of them removing the arrows and the other holding the jar of ointment. Two little angels bearing the crown and the palm of martyrdom hover above them. Without abandoning realism, Ribera is an unquestionable master of realistic tenebrism.
This painting is one of Ribera’s early works, related to the version commissioned by the viceroy of Naples, duke of Osuna (1616-18, Collegiate Church of Osuna) and that in the Hermitage, St. Petersburg (clearly dated 1628).