Standing man representing a statue

Master of the Martyrdom of St. Sebastian

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This serene figure is believed to have been part of an elaborate composite relief of the Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian, now in Linz, Austria; some of the original elements have long been dispersed. Ivory suited the style of the anonymous mid-seventeenth-century Austrian sculptor, who took great delight in portraying extreme corporeality, even in this personal take on the famed Roman marble called the Farnese Hercules. The sagging musculature of the idol behind the arrow-pierced figure of Saint Sebastian is emblematic of the decline of pagan religion.

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The fifty thousand objects in the Museum's comprehensive and historically important collection of European sculpture and decorative arts reflect the development of a number of art forms in Western European countries from the early fifteenth through the early twentieth century. The holdings include sculpture in many sizes and media, woodwork and furniture, ceramics and glass, metalwork and jewelry, horological and mathematical instruments, and tapestries and textiles. Ceramics made in Asia for export to European markets and sculpture and decorative arts produced in Latin America during this period are also included among these works.

Metropolitan Museum of Art