Saint Sebastian aided by the angels

Giulio Cesare Procaccini painted this Sebastian aided by angels around 1610, at the peak of his mature Milanese career. Procaccini was the leading painter of Counter-Reformation Milan, working extensively for the Fabbrica del Duomo and the city's most prominent religious institutions following the reforming episcopate of Cardinal Carlo Borromeo. His Sebastian departs from both the Mannerist elegance of his early career and the brutal naturalism then spreading from Rome: the angels who tend to the wounded saint give the scene an ethereal sweetness characteristic of Procaccini's mature devotional register. Milan had strong ties to Spanish Habsburg rule, and the Counter-Reformation emphasis on saintly endurance and miraculous care found eager patrons there. The Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium holds this panel as one of the finer northern Italian Baroque works in its collection.

Working on panel rather than canvas — more typical of his Mannerist-trained early period — Procaccini exploits the smooth ground for fine detail in the angels' features and Sebastian's flesh. His characteristic warm golden light suffuses the composition from above, linking the celestial and earthly realms. The paint surface is more highly finished than Strozzi's, reflecting different workshop traditions.