Lot 37: Marco Palmezzano (Forlì c. 1459/63-c. 1539)

Saint Sebastian
oil and tempera on panel
24 1/2 x 17 7/8 in. (62.5 x 45.4 cm.)

B. Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: Venetian School, London, 1957, vol. I, p. 196, pl. 338, under Vivarini, location listed as 'Homeless'.
J. Steer, Alvise Vivarini: His Art & Influence, Cambridge, 1982, p. 192, no. 80, as 'Pietro da Saliba (?), location unknown'.

Probably Claudio Argentieri collection, United States, by 1926.
Private collection, France.

We are grateful to both Mauro Lucco and Dr. Nicholas Penny for their confirmation of the attribution of this painting to Palmezzano. They believe the painting to be an important early work by the artist dating from the late 1480s. At this early stage in his career, Palmezzano was much influenced by his master Melozzo da Forlì (1438-94) on whose designs he had been working in the sacristy of the treasury in the Santa Casa at Loreto (c. 1480-4). The old attribution by Berenson, (loc. op. cit.) of this painting to Vivarini has been rejected on stylistic grounds, the long, thin lines of gold in the halo being characteristic of painting from the Romagna rather than from Vivarini's Venice. Both the small crease visible to the left of the mouth of the saint, which recurs frequently in Palmezzano's work, and the general handling of the paint, which is applied in carefully modulated short brush strokes, bear out the Palmezzano attribution.

By the fourteenth century, and following well into the Renaissance, Saint Sebastian's significance in terms of iconography was largely seen as that of a protector against the plague and he is frequently portrayed in devotional works. This association dates back to the fourth century and the building of a basilica dedicated to him over his tomb on the Via Appia in Rome. It is thought that Sebastian was an officer of the Praetorian Guard at the time of Diocletian in the third century. His defense of two companions who were condemned to death for their Christian beliefs revealed his own beliefs and led to his death. Sebastian is commonly portrayed in paintings when he was shot with arrows and left for dead.