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BALDUNG GRIEN, Hans: St Sebastian Altarpiece

🖼 St Sebastian Altarpiece, 1507
Oil on wood (central panel) (each wing)
121.2 × 78.6 cm
Nuremberg, Germany

Piercing arrows frame Sebastian's muscular, contorted body against gold leaf, rendered with unflinching anatomical precision. Baldung Grien's altarpiece established the saint as Renaissance symbol of male vulnerability and spiritual endurance, influencing Northern European devotional imagery.

The story of art
The story of art
E. H. Gombrich
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