Offered by Galerie Sismann
REQUEST INFORMATION
A symbol of Christian courage in the face of martyrdom, Saint Sebastian has inspired artists since the Renaissance through the contrast he embodies between spiritual purity and the sensuality of the nude body. A favorite subject of Baroque sculptors, he represents a dramatic tension in which eroticism is never entirely absent: the ideal beauty of youth becomes an instrument of divine grace.
Reclining against a tree trunk to which his arm is bound, the young man arches in a movement of both pain and surrender. His upturned face and slightly parted lips suggest a state suspended between suffering and ecstasy. The body, superbly modelled, appears animated by life itself: the tautness of the muscles, the softness of the flesh, and the fluidity of the pose convey a carnal emotion of unusual intensity.
This sculpture, of striking naturalism, captures the moment when martyrdom becomes an image of transcendent beauty, when pain merges with desire—a reminder of how eighteenth-century Italian sculpture could blend sensuality and devotion with remarkable subtlety.
The treatment of the flesh, supple and luminous, the delicate transitions between light and shadow, and the refined features of the face recall the style of Gaetano Gandolfi, the Bolognese master trained at the Accademia Clementina. In his terracotta figures, the artist explored similar themes: the beauty of youthful bodies, the tension of movement, and the inner breath that animates form.
A comparison with a terracotta depicting a Sleeping Youth, sold at Christie’s on 16 November 2023 and signed “GG,” is particularly revealing. Both works share the same sensuous softness, the same ability to animate the surface with an almost painterly vibration. This affinity suggests that the present sculpture may belong to the immediate circle of the master, or perhaps even his workshop.
A painter as well as a sculptor, Gandolfi stands at the juncture between the late Baroque and the refined elegance of Neoclassicism. His art unites expressive vigor with clarity of design, emotion with balance. In this terracotta, the theatricality of the pose still echoes the Baroque spirit, while the pursuit of harmony anticipates the classical taste to come.
Together with his followers, Gandolfi endowed the material with a living breath, rendering in clay the warmth of the human body and the vibration of faith. Rare for the quality of its modelling and the sensitivity of its presence, this terracotta stands as a fine testament to the Bolognese art of the late eighteenth century. In its union of sensuality, spirituality, and formal beauty, it embodies the spirit of Gaetano Gandolfi and his circle—an art in which flesh becomes prayer and beauty, revelation.
