Cornelis Cornelisz. van Haarlem

John Naylor, Sheffield, 1906;
Claude Barker, Sheffield, 1910;
In the family of the present owners, in England, since the early 20th century.

The following condition report is provided by Hamish Dewar who is an external specialist and not an employee of Sotheby's: Structural Condition The canvas has been lined and this is ensuring a secure and stable structural support. Paint Surface The paint surface has an even varnish layer. Inspection under ultra-violet light shows extensive retouchings which appear to have been quite recently and carefully applied. The most significant of these are: 1) retouchings on the contours of the foliage in the upper right of the composition, 2) a vertical line of retouching running down the centre of San Sebastian's chest, other retouchings on his neck, small retouchings on his chin, and many small dots and lines of inpainting covering what I would assume was canvas grain throughout the flesh tones. 3) Retouchings covering what would appear to be a repaired tear running across Saint Sebastian's right forearm, with extensive retouching on his right hand and wrist. 4) Retouchings in the foliage in the upper left of the composition, 5) thin vertical lines of inpainting in the sky and landscape to the right of Saint Sebastian, and other lines and areas of inpainting in the sky to the left of Saint Sebastian. 6) Retouchings on the hair of one of the three figures in the lower left of the composition, as well as numerous very small spots and lines on their flesh tones and jackets and a number of other scattered retouchings. Summary The painting would therefore appear to be in stable condition and no further work is required. The extent of retouchings applied in the past should be noted.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

This unpublished depiction of Saint Sebastian by Cornelisz. van Haarlem was until recently unknown.  Its re-emergence sheds new light on the artist’s development during the last years of the 16th century. Executed in 1598, this canvas illustrates the artist’s move away from the mannerism of his early technique, inspired by Bartholomäus Spranger (1546-1611) and Hendrick Goltzius (1558-1617), towards a more classical, Italianate style.

Cornelisz. addressed the theme of the martyrdom of Saint Sebastian in another canvas executed in 1591, of similar dimensions, now at Gosford House. The differences between the artist’s two depictions of the scene are startling. The Gosford Saint Sebastian is depicted as a single, monumental, three-quarter-length figure against a dark background, the musculature strongly defined, and the exaggerated, twisted pose resulting in an immediate and dramatic image. The present Saint Sebastian is, by contrast to the Michelangelesque turmoil of the earlier painting, depicted full-length in a landscape, targeted by a quartet of archers in contemporary costume, enduring his fate with a tranquil, resigned grace. The heaven-raised head of the saint is strikingly similar to that of the figure of Saint John in the Baptism of Christ, in the Musée de la Chartreuse, Douai (inv. no. 2832), while the man in yellow closely resembles the central sitter in the artist’s Banquet of Officers of the Haarlem Militia, dated 1599, in the Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem (inv. no. os I-53).

The use of colour here is particularly notable. The change in Cornelisz.’s style, undoubtedly precipitated by Goltzius’ Italian sojourn in the early 1590s and the profound influence on him of the Northern Italian artists of the High Renaissance, was observed not long afterwards by Karel van Mander: ‘Cornelis began more than ever to give consideration to the colouring of the flesh-parts in which he is now astonishingly transformed so that… a notably great difference is to be observed… when his present works are placed next to his earlier ones.’¹

1. See K. van Mander, Schilder-boeck, 1603-04, in P.J.J. van Thiel, Cornelis Cornelisz. van Haarlem, Doornspijk 1999, p. 107.