Saint Sebastian (1874) is one of the last works of Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (1796–1875), a French landscape and portrait painter whose output simultaneously referenced the Neo-Classical tradition and anticipated the plein-air innovations of Impressionism [1]. Executed in oil on canvas in the year before his death, the painting is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art, where it is catalogued as Saint Sebastian Succored by the Holy Women [3]. The work represents a late turn in Corot's career toward religious subject matter, a departure from the landscape painting for which he was most celebrated [1].
The painting entered the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., where it remains today [3]. The museum's open data records the work as Saint Sebastian Succored by the Holy Women, an oil on canvas dated to 1874 [3]. This late date places the painting in the final year of Corot's life, following a career of more than five decades [1].
Corot executed Saint Sebastian in oil on canvas, the medium he employed throughout his career as a landscape and portrait painter [1][3]. The painting dates to 1874, the year before his death, and reflects the artist's ongoing engagement with the Neo-Classical tradition even as his work anticipated the plein-air innovations that would define Impressionism [1]. Corot was also a printmaker in etching, though the National Gallery work is a painting rather than a print [1].
The subject of the painting is Saint Sebastian, a Christian martyr whose iconography typically includes arrows and the moment of his succor by holy women [3]. The National Gallery's title, Saint Sebastian Succored by the Holy Women, specifies this narrative moment: the saint, wounded by arrows, being tended to by the women who cared for him [3]. This religious subject represents a notable thematic choice for Corot, whose vast output was primarily devoted to landscape painting [1].
Corot was born in Paris on 16 July 1796 to a bourgeois family; his father was a wig maker and his mother a milliner, and the family's successful shop earned them an excellent income [1]. Unlike many of his artistic colleagues, Corot never felt the want of money, and this financial security allowed him to pursue his artistic vision throughout his life [1]. By 1874, the year of Saint Sebastian, Corot was a pivotal figure in landscape painting whose work bridged the Neo-Classical tradition and the emerging Impressionist movement [1]. He died on 22 February 1875, shortly after completing this late work [1].
The National Gallery of Art dates the painting to 1874, the year before Corot's death [3].
The painting is executed in oil on canvas [3].
The painting is in the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. [3].
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (UK: KORR-oh, US: kə-ROH, kor-OH; French: [ʒɑ̃ batist kamij kɔʁo]; 16 July 1796 – 22 February 1875), or simply Camille Corot, was a French landscape and portrait painter as well as a printmaker in etching. A pivo
French painter, 1796-1875
National Gallery of Art open data: Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot; 1874; oil on canvas
Louie Drehmer, Curator, ArtWiki
Louie curates ArtWiki, cross-referencing every entry against museum records, Wikidata, the Getty Union List of Artist Names, and Wikipedia.
Saint Sebastian is an oil painting by Camille Corot, 1851, held at National Gallery of Art.
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