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St Sebastian
Titian, 1488/90-1576
Oil on canvas; 210 x 115.5 cm
The hero of the painting St
Sebastian is a martyr, depicted as
utterly alone in a sinister and hostile
environment and yet with his spirit
unbroken. The colouring, based on
the contrast of dark and
purple-yellow tones, supports the
tragic atmosphere of the scene. The
artist's manner of applying thick
strokes of paint to the canvas not
only using the brush but also with his
fingers or a palette-knife intensifies
the expressiveness of this scene of
martyrdom, a subject which was
increasingly attractive to the artist
during his last years.
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