SIGNORELLI, Luca
(b. ca. 1450, Cortona, d. 1523, Cortona)

Martyrdom of St Sebastian

c. 1498
Oil on wood288 x 175 cm
Pinacoteca Comunale, Città di Castello

The figure bending at the waist was a popular motif at the end of the fifteenth century, especially experimented with for the companies of archers in narratives of St Sebastian's torture. Such poses give variation to figural groups and demonstrate the artist's skill, both in drawing and in placing the figure in a complex space.