%2B-%2BSt%2BSebastian.jpg "St Sebastian by Nicolas Regnier - Christianity, Religious Paintings from Hermitage Museum")
Painting Detail
St SebastianArtist: Nicolas Regnier
Medium: Painting, Oil on canvas, 130x100 cm
Date: c. 1620
Genre: Christianity, Religious
Source: Via the State Museum Fund from the collection of the Duke of Leuchtenberg, Petrograd, 1923
Regnier was born in France but left for Italy as a young man. In Rome he attached himself to the followers of Caravaggio, and it was during this early period that he produced the Hermitage Saint Sebastian, a subject to which Regnier turned repeatedly. A Roman warrior, Sebastian served in the private guard of the Emperor Diocletian, who sentenced him to be shot with arrows as punishment for his Christian faith . The slender figure of the young martyr is set against a dark, almost black, ground, and whilst being very striking also contains a hint of sentimentality.