01 Works, RELIGIOUS ART - Interpretation of the Bible! by the Old Masters, With Footnotes - 94

Attributed to Jean Mosnier, BLOIS 1600 - 1656

SAINT SEBASTIAN

oil on canvas

46 by 35 7/8  in.; 116.8 by 91.1 cm
Private collection

Saint Sebastian (died c. 288 AD) was an early Christian saint and martyr. Sebastian had prudently concealed his faith, but in 286 was detected. Diocletian reproached him for his betrayal, and he commanded him to be led to a field and there to be bound to a stake so that archers from Mauritania would shoot arrows at him. "And the archers shot at him till he was as full of arrows as an urchin is full of pricks, and thus left him there for dead." Miraculously, the arrows did not kill him.

Sebastian later stood by a staircase where the emperor was to pass and harangued Diocletian for his cruelties against Christians. This freedom of speech, and from a person whom he supposed to have been dead, greatly astonished the emperor; but, recovering from his surprise, he gave orders for his being seized and beat to death with cudgels, and his body thrown into the common sewer. A pious lady, called Lucina, admonished by the martyr in a vision, got it privately removed, and buried it in the catacombs at the entrance of the cemetery of Calixtus, where now stands the Basilica of St. Sebastian. More St. Sebastian

Jean Monier (or Mosnier; 1600–1656)  was a French painter who trained with his father, a glass painter. A native of Blois, Mosnier was there when Marie de' Medici was in exile, and she commissioned works from him. She was pleased with his talent, and paid to have him go to Italy to further develop as an artist. In Italy, he studied with Cristofano Allori, Lodovico Cigoli and Domenico Passignano, and was inspired by painters such as Raphael. As a result, his works had an Italian influence.


Upon his return from Italy, Marie de' Medici continued to commission him. He soon became one of the most celebrated artists of the region, receiving further commissions from patrons in Tours, Chinon, and Chartres. More on Jean Monier

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