(Città della Pieve circa 1450–1523 Fontignano)
Saint Sebastian,
oil on panel, 150 x 48 cm, framed

Provenance:
Collection of Baron Michele Lazzaroni (1863–1934), Paris;
and thence by descent;
Private collection, Rome, circa 1970;
Private collection, Bologna;
where acquired by the present owner

Literature:
R. van Marle, The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting, The Hague 1933, p. 353, illustrated p. 352, fig. 229 (before cleaning, as Perugino)

The martyrdom of Saint Sebastian was a popular subject during the early Renaissance and the present unfinished, or overcleaned composition of Saint Sebastian relates to works by Perugino. Several elements of the present figure, the position of the arms and feet, the arrows and the cloth can be found in works by Perugino, for example in the Saint Sebastian in the celebrated panel depicting the Madonna and Child Enthroned between Saints John the Baptist and Sebastian, painted in 1493 for the Convent of San Domenico in Fiesole and now conserved in the Uffizi Gallery (inv. no. 1435).

The present Saint Sebastian relates to the flourishing workshop of the great Umbrian master and the practices of artistic exchange operating through the frequent circulation of preparatory cartoons. The most successful and popular solutions were reused and adapted, a common practice in Perugino’s workshops in Perugia and Florence.

The present panel was published by Raimond van Marle in 1933 as an autograph work by Perugino, before cleaning when the background landscape and column were removed (see literature). The Dutch art historian recorded it in the collection of Baron Michele Lazzaroni (1863–1934) in Paris. Lazzaroni was an eclectic collector, painter and restorer who amassed a corpus of works of art. He also collaborated with various eminent art historians and dealers including Adolfo Venturi and Bernard Berenson.