File:Sacred and legendary art (1895) (14750390846).jpg

Identifier: sacredlegendarya02byujame (find matches)
Title: Sacred and legendary art
Year: 1895 (1890s)
Authors: Jameson, Mrs. (Anna), 1794-1860 Hurll, Estelle M. (Estelle May), 1863-1924
Subjects: Christian art and symbolism Saints
Publisher: Boston, Houghton, Mifflin
Contributing Library: Harold B. Lee Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Brigham Young University

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tand by his side as if irresolute, surroundedby their weeping friends. It struck me as a magnificent sceneplayed before me — with such a glow of light and life andmovement and color shed over it — such a triumphant enthu-siasm in the martyrs — such variety of passionate energy andsupplication and sympathy in the groups of relatives and spec-tators, that I felt as if in a theatre, looking at a well-playedscene in a religious melodrama, and inclined to clap my handsand cry Bravo ! In curious contrast with this splendid composition, I re-member a little old picture, in w^hich St. Sebastian is calmlyexhorting his friends to die, their mother alone kneeling insupplication ; very stiff and dry, but the heads full of simpleexpression. (N. Semitecolo, 1367, Padua.) ST. SEBASTIAN 415 Of the scene in which St. Sebastian confronts the emperoron the steps of his palace, and pleads for the persecuted Chris-tians, I have never seen any picture; yet painting could hardlydesire a finer subject.
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Martyrdom of St. Sebastian (PoUajuolo) 416 THE PATRON SAINTS OF CHKISTENDOM The Martyrdom of St. Sebastian (for that is the name givento the scene in which he is shot with arrows) should be distin-guished from those devotional figures which represent the saintas martyr, but not the act of martyrdom. His martyrdom, asan historical scene, is a subject of frequent occurrence, and inevery variety of treatment, from three or four figures to thirtyor forty. When the scene is supposed to be the garden on thePalatine Hill, he is bound to a tree (in once instance, as I re-member, to an orange-tree) ; if the scene be the hall or court,he is bound to a pillar ; and the inscription, SebastianusChristianus, is sometimes affixed. 1. The scene is a garden on the Palatine Hill. St. Sebas-tian is bound on high amid the branches of a tree. Eightsoldiers are shooting at him with cross-bows. Above, the skyopens in glory, and two angels hold over his head the crownof martyrdom. Admirable for the picturesq

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