(Florence 1627–1697)
Saint Sebastian,
oil on canvas, octagonal, 87 x 73 cm, framed

Provenance:
Tonelli Gambini family, Pistoia;
and thence by descent to the present owner

We are grateful to Barbara Ghelfi for confirming the attribution of the present painting and for her help in cataloguing this lot.

We are also grateful to Sandro Bellesi for independently confirming the attribution on the basis of a high-resolution digital photograph.

The present painting represents the martyr Saint Sebastian wrapped in a full red mantle, while he holds the symbols of his martyrdom: arrows in his left hand and a palm frond in his right. Many elements reveal the Tuscan origins of this painting, beginning with its octagonal format which was fashionable in Florentine painting during the seventeenth century. The sensual charged martyr’s figure and the great care for detail are likewise, markedly Tuscan: note especially the pink ribbon wrapped around the two arrows and the gilded relief band on the join between the arrow shaft and its quills.

This painting can be compared to other works by the artist, notably Rosi’s early Allegory of the Love of Virtue, in the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (see fig. 1) and that in a private collection formerly with Dorotheum, Vienna, 15 October 2013, lot 525, in which the left hand of the youth can be superimposed on that of the present Saint Sebastian. In this composition the Saint’s right hand is particularly successful, described with a care for detail and painterly subtlety that is recurrent in the Paris offering Venus the Golden Apple in the Staatsgalerie, Stockholm variant (inv. no. 3181) where the youth’s features also closely resemble those of the present Saint Sebastian. A similar handling of shadow and drapery are apparent in the Saint Barnabas formerly in the convent of San Barnaba, Florence, and now conserved in the Gallerie Fiorentine (inv. no. 1890 n. 5280): the Saint is also enveloped in a similar luxurious red mantle. Even the subject’s expressions and manner of presenting the branch or martyr’s palm are similar. It is possible that the two paintings, which are both octagonal, were once part of a series.

Alessandro Rosi was a pupil of Cesare Dandini and and he was also influenced by Salvator Rosa, who was in Florence from 1640. Rosi painted frescoes for Palazzo Corsini in Florence (1650-1653) and worked for the Medici family. He also supplied designs for tapestries collaborating with the Arazzeria Medicea from 1678 to 1697.