# St Sebastian Tended by the Holy Women [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [RIBERA, Jusepe de]() - Date: 1601-1650 - Technique: Oil on canvas, 180 x 232 cm ## Commentary St Sebastian Tended by the Holy Women c. 1621 Oil on canvas, 180 x 232 cm Museo de Bellas Artes, Bilbao In this large canvas, the figure of the saint lies naked on the ground, one arm still suspended from the tree of martyrdom. The holy women Irene and Lucilla tend the saint, one of them removing the arrows and the other holding the jar of ointment. Two little angels bearing the crown and the palm of martyrdom hover above them. Without abandoning realism, Ribera is an unquestionable master of realistic tenebrism. This painting is one of Ribera's early works, related to the version commissioned by the viceroy of Naples, duke of Osuna \(1616-18, Collegiate Church of Osuna\) and that in the Hermitage, St. Petersburg \(clearly dated 1628\). ## Related artworks - [Adoration of the Shepherds]() - [An Old Money-Lender]() - [Apollo and Marsyas]() - [Apollo Flaying Marsyas]() - [Aristotle]() - [Clubfooted Boy]() - [Democritus \(Archimedes\)]() - [Denial of Saint Peter]() - [Diogenes]() - [Hercules at Rest]() - [Holy Trinity]() - [Ixion]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()