Marco Liberi - Saint Sebastian with an Angel and Saint Irene of Rome

Marco Liberi

Saint Sebastian with an Angel and Saint Irene of Rome

Oil on canvas (relined). 137 x 97 cm.

Saint Sebastian was a young officer from the bodyguard of Emperor Diocletian. Following his conversion to Christianity, he was sentenced to death by being shot with arrows by Numidian archers. He survived because he was discovered, close to death, by a pious widow named Irene, who nursed him back to health. Whilst most depictions of Saint Sebastian depict the young man's handsome body alone, bound to a tree and pierced with arrows, this work shows Irene freeing the martyr of his bonds and the arrows with the assistance of an angel.
The author of this work long remained anonymous, but John T. Spike was recently able to convincingly attribute it to Marco Liberi. Probably born around 1644 in Rome, Marco Liberi was the son of the Venetian painter Pietro Liberi. He was taught to paint by his father and worked in his studio in Venice for many years. Ugo Ruggeri described the stylistic differences between father and son in detail in his work “Pietro e Marco Liberi: pittori nella Venezia del Seicento” from 1986. Ruggeri attributed an oeuvre of around 60 paintings to Marco Liberi. His style is characterised by dynamic diagonal compositions in which he places his figures closer to the edge of the canvas than his father. His protagonists are more substantial, their faces more expressive, the shadows deeper and darker. Works like the present canvas show that Marco also sought inspiration among contemporaries from his generation such as Johann Loth, who was also taught in Pietro Liberi's studio.
After his father's death, Marco Liberi moved in Vienna in 1670, where he found employment under Prince Bishop Lothar Franz von Schönborn. His collection in Pommerfelden castle now houses several works by Marco Liberi.

Certificate

John T. Spike, Florence 06.05.19.

Provenance

Bolland & Marotz Bremen. - Belgian private collection.