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CECCO DEL CARAVAGGIO: Martyrdom of St Sebastian

🖼 Martyrdom of St Sebastian, 1611-12
Oil on canvas
124 × 163 cm
Warsaw, Poland

Arrows pierce a muscular saint's body against shadowed stone, his flesh rendered with anatomical precision and dramatic chiaroscuro. Cecco's violent realism redefined religious martyrdom in Counter-Reformation art, elevating brutal suffering into visceral spiritual witness.

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