535. SCULPTURE, Baroque, Southern Europe, Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian, carved hardwood.

Painted, height 82.5 cm Sebastian, born about 256 in Narbonne, Gaul, died 20 January 287 or 288 in Rome, was a martyred Christian soldier in the army of Emperor Diocletian. The emperor sentenced Sebastian to be tied in the middle of an open field and shot with arrows by the soldiers. The motif became popular during the Renaissance and Baroque in painting and sculpture.