Rubens in Capodimonte with ‘San Sebastiano edited by the angels’

From Palazzo Barberini, another headquarters of the galleries, on loan (set up in room 62) also ‘Sacred and Profane Amor Amor’ by Giovanni Baglione (1602, oil on canvas, 240 x 143 cm), painter and biographer, also known as anti-caravaggio (Rome, about 1573 of December 1643), protagonist of the famous rivalry with Merisi, which led to trial for Fingiurie in the first 600.

“The arrival of these two masterpieces is part of a significant exchange with the national galleries of ancient art – explains Eike Schmidt, director of the Museum and Real Bosco di Capodimonte – will be an opportunity for the visitors of Capodimonte, especially for the citizens who come to the museum regularly, to admire these paintings, rarely lent, in a different context and moreover in Naples. A dialogue that will stimulate new reflections and comparisons. of the San Sebastiano di Rubens with an installation from the iconographic point of view which is a real seventeenth -century compendium on the topic.

As is known, Sebastiano, Roman military, converted to Christianity and was sentenced to death for having spread the faith among his companions. Linked and pierced by arrows, his body was left in the meal of animals but, the widow Irene found him still dying and cared for it with the help of a servant. Sebastiano was therefore able to resume proselytism but, a new martyrdom was soon inflicted on him: the flogging. His body then had to be thrown into the cloaca Maxima as a sign of contempt but, he was recovered from the matron Lucina who gave him worthy burial. The figure of the martyr soldier had great luck in art, first bearded in armor, then more and more often young naked, pierced by arrows, an opportunity to show an eventful anatomy, one of the few who had the right to be exposed even in sacred environments.

In the work ‘guest’ of Rubens, San Sebastiano curated by the angels, the following moment is represented to the first martyrdom: the body of the young soldier, linked to a tree, was pierced by the arrows and four angels are intent on helping and freeing him, a variation of the artist to the most common iconography with the widow Irene. The powerful male body of the protagonist like those most minutes of his saviors show a debtor physicality of the study of the ancient and Michelangelo, real revelations of the two Roman stays of the Flemish painter. Co-protagonist of the scene is the great armor on the left, reference to his role as a military, but also Rubens’ pictorial virtuosity that makes the reflective effect of the metal. The painter returns a fully baroque version and reinterprets the subject insisting on a theatrical and thinly erotic yield.

In dialogue with Rubens set up in room 61 there are four works. By Domenico Cresti called Il Passignano (Passignano, 1559 – Florence, 1638) is the San Sebastiano conducted to the sepulcher (1602 – oil on canvas – Bourbon collection – Purchase via Domenico Venuti, 1802). The scene is set in Diocletian’s Rome, in particular the Traiana column is recognizable. The moment of the recovery of the body of Sebastiano is represented, conducted at the tombrro by Lucina with other women and an elderly neophyte. The composition is dominated by the pale but vigorous limbs of the saint, around which the other characters are distributed in the foreground.

Di Bartolomeo Schedoni (Modena, 1578 – Parma, 1615) is the San Sebastiano edited by the Pious Women (1615 oil on canvas – Farnese collection). Here the glimpse of the naked body and the contract of the saint, is placed diagonally so as to deny the viewer the vision of his face, while the women return with their expressions the feeling of pity that moves them to take care of them. The painting, although unfinished, shows full -bodied brushstrokes and particular attention to the touches of light. In the work of Andrea Vaccaro (Naples, 1604- Naples, 1670) San Sebastiano (1635-1640- oil on canvas Edoardo Dalibono, 1907, restored in 2024) The saint is represented in the culminating moment of martyrdom: the wrists linked to a tree, the body affected by the arrows, the suffering face.

The rotation of the figure highlights the musculature. A recent restoration has re -emerged the flashes on the foreground armor and songs of landscape illuminated by a twilight light. Finally by Mattia Preti (Taverna, 1613 – La Valletta, 1699) San Sebastiano (1656 ca. oil on canvas from Naples, church of Santa Maria dei Seven pains, in precautionary storage in Capodimonte since 1980). The saint stripped of his armor that appears to be broken down on the ground, the wrists related to the tree, has just suffered the first martyrdom and turns his gaze towards the sky. Represented with an shot from the bottom up, its figure acquires monumentality and a sculptural plasticity, accentuated by the light that fully illuminates the body, bringing back the white drapery.

In conjunction with the celebrations of the Jubilee 2025, ‘La Flagellazione’ of Caravaggio, owned by the Fund of Cult buildings, as is known on delivery in Capodimonte since 1972, is exhibited at Palazzo Barberini in the Caravaggio 2025 exhibition (until 6 July). The synergy activated on the occasion of the loans includes mutual promotion and discounts for visitors to Capodimonte and the exhibition of Palazzo Barberini. In particular, with the Capodimonte ticket the exhibition ticket can be purchased discounted from 18 to 12 euros. The Neapolitan museum will practice the reduced ticket of 12 euros (until 30 July) to the visitors of Caravaggio 2025. After Rubens and Baglione in March also waited for a third ‘guest’ in Capodimonte, for the cycle open last year by Courbet: it is Ludovico Carracci (Bologna, 1555 – 1619) with ‘the Annunciation’ (1585