Talk:Saint Sebastian (Antonello da Messina)

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I am opening this talk page to propose an enhancement to this article that concerns the details of this painting. The article so far mentions "famous details", but doesn't show how these details form a coherent whole that contribute to convey a powerful message.

The late french scholar Daniel Arasse, specialist of renaissance painting, proposed a new approach on art history by focusing on the details, which, when cast in the historical context of the painting, help understand the intention of the painter. In his 2003 radio show (titled "Stories of Paintings") on France Culture , the cultural channel of the French national radio, Arasse uses Antonello's Saint Sebastian as an example of early use of perspective to convey a specific message. Summarizing, the vanishing point of the picture is very low in the image, at the hight of the saint's calves. The effect is to render the figure tall and imposing, a very strong presence in the foreground. The specific message is: "This is Saint Sebastian, the protector of Venice against the arrows of the plague. The plague couldn't reach Venice because Sebastian was in the way".

As I am writing, I am noticing that the arrow in the saint's thigh was aiming in the direction of the two young guys in the background, and the arrow in the belly was aiming at the young girls, at the left of the balcony. Putting a ruler to the arrow in the flank, I see it was aiming at a window of the townhouse on the left. Why a window. Was this townhouse well known, own by a sponsor of the work who was grateful for Sebastian's protection. Or is Antonello telling us: "The guy on the balcony was protected by Sebastian, see the arrow stopped, but Sebastian couldn't protect him from his own drunkardness, and he fell from the balcony anyway". (!)

Powerfull message it would be: "You ask the saint to protect you from the plague, but should you protect yourself from your sins?" Not trying to push a religious message here. Just attempting to play Arasse's game and guess how Antonello and his contemporaries were thinking!

Looking at the characters in the background we can see that Antonello gives us a depiction of stages of life with time passing. He tells of this life that we deem so precious that a saint should protect it with his body. At the left of the balcony are two young maiden, leaning on a rich tapestry and looking down at the young soldiers at the right of the picture. Next to the maiden is a pot of flower not yet in bloom. At the right of the balcony a lady and a boy, probably a mother and her boy, can be seen. Next to the lady, a pot of flower is also seen that has bloomed and seems on the way to wilting. (My reproduction is higher resolution that the one on this site). The lady seems to be looking at the drunk, she is laughing. The boy is frowning and looks at the young mother in blue dress at the left of the picture. This young mother is pregnant and carries a toddler in her arms. One of the soldiers on the left is pointing at the drunk. Is he saying to his pal: "get rid of him" or "If you continue like this, that's how you'll en up". So we have the time of youth and lust; the time of motherhood and childhood; motherhood in wealth; motherhood in misery; time passing; flower blooming and wilting; human mortality and even maybe mortality of the city, that the piece of broken column may symbolize on the foreground, at the right of the saint's foot.

In front of this portrait of human condition in sumptuous architectural settings, Sebastian the protector. The powerful message Antonello might be: “Do we really deserve to be protected?". — Preceding unsigned comment added by Db-austin (talk • contribs) 02:06, 21 September 2006 (UTC)