Agnolo Bronzino, the mysterious Saint Sebastian
Poetry, friendships with the literary world and his belonging to the Academia Fiorentina seems to be the main elements of Bronzino biography deeply influencing his painting style. The Italian artist born in 1503 in Florence is well known for his exceptional portraits of mens and women sometimes represented as allegorical figures where the personality traits and characteristics of the subject depicted are directly inspired from mythology or hagiography. This specific representation aims to highlight one or several singularities of a character, often a quality but sometimes a flaw.
Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo di Mariano)
Portrait of a young Man as Saint Sebastian
Oil on panel. 87 x 76.5 cm, ca. 1533
Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
© Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
Today, only around seven allegorical portraits painted by the artist are known, all of them being masculine figures. This could be explained by the fact that in the Florentin society in the 16th century individual characteristics were more highlighted among men than among women. Often in the portraits of this epoch, mens faces were more singular while women’s one were usually more standardized and looking sometimes alike.
Bronzino used allegorical portraits most often to celebrate the personal qualities of the figure depicted. But to understand the association between the mythological figure or saints associated with the actual figure it is vital to know the identity of the individual painted. One can not go without the other, it is like painting two figures in one, the first mask being the individual as he is without any expression and the second mask is like a costume revealing and highlighting his hidden quality.
One of the most intriguing and fascinating portrait painted by Bronzino is the Saint Sebastian from the Thyssen-Bornemz collection, dated from circa 1533. It is a private devotion painting as well as an allegorical portrait.
The juvenil figure of the figure, his almost complete nudity and the arrow pointing his chest are the symbols commonly used by artists to represent Saint Sebastian. However this time the Saint is represented in an original manner going against the classical devotion figure. Indeed, the young men doesn’t show any transcendence or inner conviction which we usually find. He doesn’t look for the viewer of the portrait but seems to look an interlocutor we can not see. His half-opened lips suggest a conversation, maybe a romantic one and the arrow in the hands of the young man emphasize on this.
There is therefore two subjects, quite contrary in one, a religious image of a Christian soldier and a portrait who could be seen as unconventional and even romantic. What makes this portrait so fascinating is the mix between the devotional figure of Saint Sebastian and the desire of a young man whose name was maybe Sebastian. One of the most possible explanation of this portrait is that a young man comissioned Bronzino to represent his portrait in an allegorical and antiquity style which was the trend in the beggining of the 16th century.
The figure of Saint Sebastian differs from the usuel Saints who usually have the same traits, here the figure seems to be an individual with a singularity The face of young man, even if it idealized, displays some singular traits such as the nose, lips shape, eyebrow. The hair locks and body of the Saint, represented in a sculptural manner by Bronzino makes this figure even more individualized. The chest of Saint Sebastian seems to be clearly inspired from the torso of the belvedere which became a huge fascination for artists in beginning of the 16th century who draw it from all the possible angles. The skin treatment by Bronzino reinforce this sculptural effect. Indeed the skin is shining slightly especially on the nose and lips just as porcelain.