Saint Sebastian Pierced with Arrows

Josse Lieferinxe's Saint Sebastian Pierced with Arrows, painted around 1497 and now in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, depicts the martyrdom of the Roman soldier Sebastian — his execution by his fellow soldiers under Diocletian's order, who tied him to a post and filled him with arrows, leaving him for dead. Sebastian survived this ordeal, was nursed back to health by Saint Irene, then returned to confront Diocletian and was beaten to death. The Sebastian altarpiece that Lieferinxe created for Marseille is one of the great devotional cycles of the late fifteenth century in Southern France, and the Philadelphia and Walters panels are among the most important surviving elements.

Oil on panel with Lieferinxe's characteristic synthesis of Flemish naturalism and Provençal painting conventions. Sebastian's figure is rendered with careful attention to the idealized male body — the arrows piercing the flesh creating the dramatic visual shock of the scene.