The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian

Artist Joachim Anthonisz Wtewael (Dutch, 1566 - 1638)

Date1600

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsUnframed: 66 5/8 x 49 1/4 inches (169.23 x 125.1 cm)
Framed: 76 x 58 7/8 x 3 1/2 inches (193.04 x 149.54 x 8.89 cm)

Credit LinePurchase: Nelson Gallery Foundation

Object numberF84-71

SignedSigned and dated on stone at left edge: "IOACHIM.WTEN/ WAEL.FECIT/ 1600"

On View

On view

Gallery Location

Collections

European Art

Terms

DescriptionSaint Sebastian stands nearly nude, full-length, against a tree to which he is being tied by two archers in preparation for his execution. Three more soldiers approach the site from the left middleground. Above, right, a naked cherub descends to place a crown of laurel leaves on Sebastian's head and to hand him a palm of martyrdom. The setting is a clearing in a dense wood. To the right an opening in the vegetation reveals a farmhouse or cottage, below, and the sky above.Exhibition History

Exhibition History

A Bountiful Decade: Selected Acquisitions, 1977-1987, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, October 14-December 6, 1987, no. 63.

Great Dutch Paintings from America, Mauritshuis, The Hague, The Netherlands, September 28, 1990-January 13, 1991; The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, no. 73.

Dawn of the Golden Age, Northern Netherlandish Art, 1580-1620, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, December 11, 1993-March 6, 1994, no. 228.

Masters of Light: Dutch Painters in Utrecht during the Golden Age, The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, September 13-November 30, 1997; Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, January-April, 1998; The National Art Gallery, London, May-July, 1998, no.2.

The Glory of the Golden Age, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, April 15-September 17, 2000, no.6.

Pleasure and Piety: The Art of Joachim Wtewael, Centraal Museum, Utrecht, Netherlands, February 21-May 25, 2015; The National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., June 28-October 4, 2015; The Museum of Fine Arts Houston, November 1-January 31, 2016, no. 12.

Gallery Label

This painting is by one of the leading Netherlandish Mannerists of the late 16th century. Typical of the Mannerist obsession with virtuosity and complexity are the twisting poses, the high finish and the obsession with detail in the rendering of the muscles. Saint Sebastian was a Roman legionary martyred for his Christian beliefs. Since he was pierced with arrows, he became the patron saint of archers. It has been suggested that this painting may have been commissioned not for a church but for a company of militia, that is, part-time gentlemen soldiers.

Provenance

With Hadfield and Burrowes, London, by May 10, 1785;

Their sale, First Part of the Large Collection of Pictures, made by Messrs. Hadfield and Burrowes, during their tour Through Flanders, France, Germany and Holland, Greenwood’s, London, May 10, 1785, lot 79;

With Philip Hill, by June 20, 1807;

Purchased at his sale, A Most Capital and Valuable Collection of Pictures, Christie’s, London, June 20, 1807, lot 44, by Michael Bryan (1757-1821), London, 1807;

The Properties of a Gentleman and a Baronet, H. Phillips’s, London, June 2, 1815, lot 5;

With Alexis Delahante, Esq., Paris, by May 30, 1817;

His sale, A Select and Pleasing Collection of Cabinet Pictures, H. Phillips’s, London, May 30, 1817, lot 84;

Sir Edward Cockburn, 8th Baronet (1834-1903), Herefordshire, England, by 1903;

Purchased at his sale, Important Pictures of the Early English School and Works by Old Masters, Christie, Manson and Woods, London, April 25, 1903, lot 139, by Hamblin, 1903 [1];

With Van der Perre, Paris, by 1905-1906;

With S.A. L’Antiquaille, Paris, by 1937-1938 [2];

With M. Samuel, Paris, 1938;

Purchased from Samuel by an unknown private collector, France, 1938-June 25, 1984;

Purchased at the private collector’s sale, Tableaux Anciens, Sotheby Parke Bernet, Monte Carlo, June 25, 1984, lot 3305, by Galerie Bruno Meissner, Zürich, 1984 [3];

Purchased from Meissner and Newhouse Galleries, New York, by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1984.

NOTES:

[1] The handwritten notation ‘Hamblin’ is located in the right margin of a copy of the 1903 sale catalogue in the Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles.

[2] According to letters between S. A. “L’Antiquaille” and the Centraal Museum, Utrecht, December 10, 1937-February 12, 1938, concerning the latter’s attempt to purchase the painting, Centraal Museum, Utrecht, Archives, copies in the NAMA curatorial files. According Edwin Buijsen, Curator of Early Netherlandish Painting, Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, in a letter dated July 9, 1998, NAMA curatorial files, a notation on the back of an old photograph in the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie states the painting was offered to dealer P. Graupe (1881-1953) in 1938, but it is unclear who offered it.

[3] Galerie Bruno Meissner sold a quarter share of the painting to Newhouse Galleries following the Sotheby’s sale. See a letter to the editor from Bruno Meissner, Art & Auction (December 1984).

Published References

A Descriptive Catalogue of the First Part of the Large Collection of Pictures, Made by Messrs. Hadfield and Burrows, during Their Tour through Flanders, France, Germany, and Holland (London: Greenwood, May 10, 1785), unpaginated, (repro.).

A Catalogue of a most Capital and Valuable Collection of Pictures, The Choicest Works of the great and celebrated Masters in the Italian, French, Flemish, and Dutch Schools, The Property of an Eminent Collector, Purchased by him chiefly in the course of several tours on the Continent under very Favorable Circumstance, and at Liberal Expense (London, Christie, Manson and Woods, June 20, 1807), 7.

A Catalogue of a Splendid and Valuable Collection of Undoubted and Original Paintings, Principally of the Dutch and Flemish Schools and a Few Fine Pictures of the Italian School (London: Phillips, Son and Neale, June 2-3, 1815), unpaginated.

A Catalogue of a Select and Pleasing Collection of Cabinet Pictures, Principally of the Dutch and Flemish Schools; of a Few Elaborate Specimens of the Italian (London: Phillips, Son and Neale, May 30-31, 1817), 7.

Catalogue of the Choice Collection of Pictures and Drawings of the Norwich School of George Holmes, Esq. of Brooke Hall, Norwich; also Important Pictures of the Early English School and Works by Old Masters of General W C. Hadden, R.E., Sir Edward Cockburn, Bart., and from Numerous Private Collections and Different Sources (London: Christie, Manson and Woods, April 25, 1903), 30.

"Une Oeuvre de Joachim Wttewael Ou Uitewael," Le Gille: Informateur des Beaux-Arts, Revue Mensuelle, Intermèdiare des Collectionneurs, Amateurs, et Artistes 1, no. 1 (May 1905): 15-16, (repro.).

Catharinus Marinus A. A. Lindeman, Joachim Anthonisz Wtewael (Utrecht: A. Oosthoek, 1929): no. 7, pp. 50-53, 249, (repro.).

Wolfgang Stechow, review of Joachim Anthonisz Wtewael, by C.M.A.A. Lindeman, Zeitschrift für bildende Kunst: Kunstchronik und Kunstliteratur 2 (1930): 130-131.

Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker,eds., Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler, vol. 36 (Leipzig: Verlag E. A. Seemann, 1947), 286.

Anne W. Lowenthal, "The Paintings of Joachim Anthonisz. Wtewael (1566-1638)” (PhD diss., Columbia University, 1975): 77-78, 244-45, 518, (repro.).

Tableaux Anciens (Sotheby Parke Bernet Monaco S.A., June 25, 1984), 14-15, (repro.).

Frank Davis, "Given in Friendship," Country Life 176, no. 4539 (August 16, 1984): 438-39, (repro.).

Deborah Stratton, "Derek Johns," Art and Auction 7, no. 2 (September 1984): 83-84, (repro.).

"Gould et Cinq Jours de Monte-Carlo,” Connaissance des Arts, no. 391 (September 1984): 30, (repro.).

Frank Davis, "Talking About Salesrooms: After a Diet of Distortions ...,” Country Life 176, no. 4546 (October 4, 1984): 932.

Bruno Meissner, “Around the Block: Letters," Art and Auction 7, no. 5 (December 1984): 38.

Jacques Foucart, "Manieres du Nord,” Connaissance des Arts, no. 398 (April 1985): 62-63.

The Society of Fellows Annual Report May 1, 1984-April 30, 1985 [Nelson Gallery Foundation] (May 1985), 11, 18.

“Recent Acquisition” Midwest Art History Society Newsletter 128 (Fall 1985): 9, (repro.).

"Calendar," The Burlington Magazine 127, no. 991 (October 1985): 741.

Donald Hoffmann, "Nelson Buys 'St. Sebastian' for Top Price," The Kansas City Star (October 13, 1985): 1A, 18A.

Donald Hoffmann, "Nelson Buys Prized Dutch Painting,” The Kansas City Star (October 13, 1985): 1F, 3F, (repro.).

"A Major Acquisition for Kansas City," Apollo 122, no. 285 (November 1985): 393, (repro.).

Roger Ward, "Mannerist Masterpiece Acquired by Museum," Calendar of Events (The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art) (November 1985): 2-3, (repro.).

Görel Cavalli-Björkman, ed., Netherlandish Mannerism: Papers Given at a Symposium in Nationalmuseum Stockholm, September 21-22, 1984 (Stockholm: Nationalmuseum 1985), 12, 13n17.

Margaret Morse, "The Arrow Man," House and Garden 158, no. 1 (January 1986): 56.

Eleanor H. Gustafson, "Museum Accessions,” Antiques 129, no. 2 (February 1986): 372, 380, (repro.).

Anne W. Lowenthal, Joachim Wtewael and Dutch Mannerism (Doornspijk, Netherlands: Davaco Publishers, 1986), 41, 48, 93-94, 207, (repro.).

Peter C. Sutton, A Guide to Dutch Art in America (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publ. Co., 1986), 123, (repro.).

Roger Ward, ed., A Bountiful Decade: Selected Acquisitions, 1977-1987, exh. cat. (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1987), 146-47, (repro.).

Ellen R. Goheen, The Collections of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1988), 50-51, (repro.).

Ben Broos, ed., Great Dutch Paintings from America, exh. cat. (The Hague: Mauritshuis, 1990-1), 106-7, 488-91, (repro.).

Anne W. Lowenthal, Netherlandish Mannerism in British Collections: A Loan Exhibition, exh. cat. (London: Entwistle Gallery, 1990), 5.

Michael Churchman and Scott Erbes, High Ideals and Aspirations: The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1933-1993 (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1993), 108, archive material.

Ger Luijten et al., Dawn of the Golden Age, Northern Netherlandish Art, 1580-1620, exh. cat.

(Amsterdam: Rijksmuseum, 1993), 22, 85, 206, 207, 556, 557, (repro.).

Roger Ward and Patricia J. Fidler, eds., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection (New York: Hudson Hills Press, in association with Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1993), 32, 129, 159, (repro.).

Michael Hall, "A New Grand Tour-of American Museums," Antique 8, no. 2 (September 1994): 601, (repro.).

Anne W. Lowenthal, Joachim Wtewael: Mars and Venus Surprised by Vulcan (Malibu: Getty Publications, 1995), 72-73, (repro.).

Christopher Brown, Utrecht Painters of the Dutch Golden Age (London: National Gallery Publications, 1997), 26-27, 29, 72, (repro.).

Joaneath A. Spicer et al., Masters of Light: Dutch Painters in Utrecht during the Golden Age (San Francisco: Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 1997), 22, 125, 135-138, 155, 275, 289, 408-9, 136, (repro.).

Arthur K. Wheelock, Jr., "Utrecht Painters in Baltimore," Apollo 147, no. 434 (April 1998): 52.

Peter Hecht, "Exhibition Reviews: San Francisco, Baltimore, and London; The Utrecht School,” The Burlington Magazine 140, no. 1147 (October 1998): 706-7, (repro.).

Patrick Le Chanu, Joachim Wtewael: Persée et Andromede (Paris: Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1999), 46-47, (repro.).

Judikje Kiers and Fieke Tissink, The Glory of the Golden Age: Dutch Art of the Seventeenth Century: Painting, Sculpture and Decorative Arts, exh. cat. (Amsterdam: Rijksmuseum, 2000), 20, 335, (repro.).

Jo Durden-Smith, "Master Class," Departures, no. 63 (May/June 2000): 196-7, (repro.).

Katie Scott and Caroline Arscott, Manifestations of Venus: Art and Sexuality (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2000), 65-66, (repro.).

Burton L. Dunbar, The Collections of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: German and Netherlandish Paintings, 1450-1600 (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2005), 14, 325-335, (repro.).

Frances S. Connelly, The Grotesque in Western Art and Culture: The Image at Play (Cambridge University Press: 2012), 43, (repro.).

James Clifton, Liesbeth M. Helmus and Arthur K. Wheelock, Pleasure and Piety: The Art of Joachim Wtewael, exh. cat. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2015), 5-6, 29, 88-90, (repro.).

Lawrence W. Nichols, “Joachim Wtewael: Utrecht, Washington and Houston,” The Burlington Magazine 157 (July 2015): 501-2, (repro.).

Holland Cotter, “Joachim Wtewael’s Provocative and Puzzling Paintings at the National Gallery,” New York Times: Art and Design (July 16, 2015), C19, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/17/arts/design/review-joachim-wtewaels-provocative-and-puzzling-paintings-at-the-national-gallery.html.

Albert Godycki, review of Pleasure and Piety. The Art of Joachim Wtewael, by James Clifton, Liesbeth M. Helmus and Arthur K. Wheelock, H-ArtHist (October 18, 2015), http://arthist.net/reviews/11235.

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