Saint Sebastian.

This 1490 Saint Sebastian, housed in the Museo Poldi Pezzoli in Milan, represents Crivelli's mature treatment of the martyr as a standalone devotional image rather than a polyptych component. By the early 1490s, Crivelli had absorbed Paduan classicism and Venetian refinement into a highly personal style notable for its ornamental extravagance and emotional restraint. Sebastian's martyrdom made him one of the most popular private devotional images in Italy, believed to offer protection against plague, and wealthy Milanese collectors actively sought such pieces. The figure stands against a landscape backdrop that suggests a specific locale without describing one, balancing the universal and the particular in the way that characterised Crivelli's best work.

Painted in tempera on panel, the work shows Crivelli's controlled application of layered colour to build luminous flesh tones. The landscape background employs cooler blues and greens in recession while the figure remains warm and crisply defined in the foreground, creating depth through colour temperature rather than aerial perspective.