In my last blog post, I covered the history, patronage, symbols, and artistic history of Saint Sebastian. Today, I’ll conclude by providing examples of art featuring this saint here in Northern California, and an overview of what makes the pieces special.
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St. Sebastian the Martyr Church
The perfect place to begin a tour of Sebastian iconography in the Bay Area is St. Sebastian the Martyr Church in Greenbrae. He is represented here in three completely different mediums—masonry, glass, and paint—and in the style of both the Medieval and Renaissance eras.
St. Sebastian the Martyr was built in 1956 and designed by San Francisco architects Paul Anthony Ryan and John Michael Lee. Lee maintained a particularly strong connection with the church, living only a mile away at the time of his death.
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Bas-Relief Above Main Entrance
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The first art piece at St. Sebastian the Martyr is a bas-relief of Sebastian and four angels, integrated into the front of Ryan and Lee’s design. It’s done in a particularly medieval style, with a stoic, bearded face, a prominent halo, six arrows, and his traditional pose at the post with arms bound together. He wears little clothing, however, as in Renaissance and later depictions.
His pose is deliberately reminiscent of the Flagellation of Christ before the crucifixion, emphasizing that Sebastian is like Christ in his willingness to die for the faith. The placement of the bas-relief is also medieval in nature, as it overlooks the main entrance to the church so it can be seen every time a person enters.
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Oculus Rose Window in Choir Loft
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Once inside the church, it’s possible to see a beautiful stained glass window with a depiction of Sebastian. The artist, Carl Huneke, was born in Germany and emigrated to the U.S. in 1925. Huneke established his own business in San Francisco making stained glass, and also worked on installations for stained glass artisan Charles Connick. Huneke was incredibly prolific, and I’ll probably return to him in future posts.
The window itself is part of a set of 21 windows depicting various saints, all done by Huneke. Unlike the relief outside, the window is firmly in the Renaissance tradition. Sebastian is younger, with a bare torso and an expressive, cleanly-shaven face.
Sebastian’s pose has a specific meaning relating to his role as protector against the plague. Raising one arm was a way of showing that there were no buboes in one’s armpit, and therefore that one wasn’t sick; Sebastian is visibly plague-free. (Compare, for example, ‘Bonaparte Visiting the Plague Victims of Jaffa‘ by Antoine-Jean Gros, an 1804 oil on canvas painting now at the Louvre in Paris, which features a propagandist depiction of Napoleon bravely touching a plague-sufferer’s exposed underarm).
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Painted Alterpiece in Apse
‘Saint Sebastian Tended by Saint Irene’, by Hendrick ter Brugghen, 1625, Dutch, oil on canvas (Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, Ohio)
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The final piece of art depicting Sebastian at his namesake church is a painting residing in the Eucharistic Adoration chapel. It’s derived from the 1625 painting ‘Saint Sebastian Tended by Saint Irene‘, considered the masterpiece of Dutch painter Hendrick ter Brugghen.
Ter Brugghen’s original was made during a plague outbreak in Utrecht, and artistic choices such as Sebastian’s pale skin and Irene’s serene face suggest hope in the face of the plague. Instead of the usual dark, indoor setting for this subject, ter Brugghen placed the two figures outside under a bright sky. His characteristic tenebroso technique is displayed in this work, with strong contrast between adjacent light and dark parts of the painting.
The original painting in turn was probably influenced by a similar work by Dirck van Baburen, who once shared a studio with ter Brugghen. I included van Baburen’s painting in my last post.
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(A gentle reminder for the reader: This is the first time I’ve directed people to an active place of worship. It’s good to see art where it was originally meant to be displayed, instead of only in galleries. The vast majority of religious art in galleries was originally in churches, temples or other religious sites. But visitors must please take care to be respectful of worshippers and not disrupt them, especially during Eucharistic Adoration.)
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Crocker Art Museum
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The Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento holds another beautiful depiction of Sebastian. Drawn in 1630 by Jacques Callot, ‘Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian‘ is the middle of three prep sketches before making an etching for prints. The drawing is a reverse image from the resulting etching but is similar in many respects to the final design.
Callot’s drawing is unusual in that it steps back from typical depictions and shows the broader scene. Although Sebastian and the arrows flying toward him are visible – especially in the eventual etching – most of the emphasis is on the setting, executioners, and witnesses.
The Roman structure behind Sebastian is an interesting detail. It’s an overgrown ruin, the way it might have looked in Callot’s life, instead of intact as it likely would have been in Sebastian’s time.
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Cantor Arts Center
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The Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University contains another piece featuring Sebastian and Irene together. ‘Saint Sebastian Attended by Irene‘ is an oil on canvas by Nicolas Réginer that was painted around 1615-16. Réginer, a Flemish painter born in the Spanish Netherlands, painted in the style of Carravaggio and worked in Antwerp, Rome, and Venice.
Sebastian was a favorite subject of Réginer, who painted him repeatedly, including three times with Saint Irene (the other two are now in museums in England and France). The dramatic contrast of light and shadow makes the three figures, and Sebastian especially, seem to glow with a holy light.
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SFMOMA
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One local work that’s radically different from those mentioned so far is ‘Sebastian‘, a 1964 work by John Baxter. Baxter, who lived in the Bay Area nearly his whole life, was a former Curator of Education at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, where this sculpture is now housed.
Instead of depicting Sebastian at the pillar or being tended by Irene, this work features a short wooden post with holes punched in it and spots of red in these punctures. The red spots are carnelian, a semi-precious gemstone, which gains its red color from iron oxide. Fittingly, this is the same substance that colored Sebastian’s blood.
Baxter’s post is the aftermath of the attempted execution. It represents what was left behind after Saint Irene and her maid took Sebastian away. ‘Sebastian‘ is not currently on display at SFMOMA, but it should be.
I like that last one by Baxter. I tend not to be a fan of most modern art, but that one manages a neat trick: it seems abstract, but isn’t.
Yes, it’s sneaky like that.
I am enjoying this blog. I am learning so much about the sights around Northern California.
Thank you! I’m glad you are enjoying it.
In what years was Saint Sebastian alive?
In the mid to late 3rd Century, but it has sometimes been common for artists to show him dressed in whatever style was contemporary at the time the art was being created.