Saint Sebastian and Saint Christopher, Zenone Veronese (or Zeno da Verona) (Verona, 1484 – Salò (Bs) post 1542-before 1554)

Zeno Veronese (or Zeno da Verona)
(Verona, 1484 – Salò (Bs) post 1542-before 1554)

Saint Sebastian and Saint Christopher

Oils on curved canvases, 173 x 55 cm

Published on About Art Online

https://www.aboutartonline.com/nuove-proposte-per-zenone-veronese-un-singolare-maestro-del-500-venet…

This companion piece of works has been declared of particularly important historical and artistic interest by the Ministry for Cultural Heritage, Superintendence of Verona (decree of 22 January 2022).

FULL DETAILS OF THE WORKS AT THE FOLLOWING LINK

In the in-depth historical-artistic report drawn up by the Ministry, following the careful material and stylistic analysis carried out and further specific insights, the two proposed paintings, depicting San Sebastiano and San Cristoforo, are assigned to Zenone Veronese (Verona, 1484 – Salò di Brescia, post 1542/before 1554).

The two paintings in question, depicting Saint Sebastian and Saint Christopher, are painted on herringbone canvas, a textile support peculiar to Venetian painting. The arched shape allows us to hypothesize with certainty that they were placed in a religious building and that they were originally the side panels of a polyptych, probably a wooden frame (lost), which bore the effigy of a saint or the Madonna in the center which could have been painted or sculpted. A later and updated variant of the Cavriana triptych (1512) and chronologically very close to the one, commissioned by the Franciscan order, depicting the Eternal Father between two angels with saints Joseph and Francis of Assisi (Salò, S. Bernardino, already in the oratory of S. Anna alle Rive) (Amaturo, Marelli, Ventura 1994, pp. 55-57, 108-102, nn. 1, 21). In fact, to this day, only these two polyptychs created by Zenone Veronese as part of his artistic production are known.

Considering the posture of the bodies, the landscape, the play of light and the orientation of the gazes, San Sebastiano was placed on the left and San Cristoforo, who turns towards the outside of the canvas, on the right, in the typical act of involving the devout bystander to join and participate in the sacred scene.

The stylistic analysis and comparison with works of certain dating suggests that the two paintings can be traced back to the artist's maturity and can be dated between the end of the fourth and the first years of the fifth decade. The anatomical rendering of the nude of San Sebastiano is similar to that of the figures in the Descent to Limbo (Salò, Duomo) of 1537, while the face of San Cristoforo seems to be modeled on that of San Rocco (Barghe, S. Rocco) of which it also echoes the majestic figure dressed in a short tunic and a large cloak.

The Saints are both immersed in a natural landscape, the arboreal scenes and the mountainous reliefs that in the distance become blue under the sky crossed by long luminous streaks: it is a compositional structure adopted by Zeno also in the two large altarpieces of the Cathedral of Desenzano (1541) and the affinity is even more evident thanks to the comparison with the canvas depicting the Madonna and Child with the saints Christopher, Zeno, Antonio Abate and Sebastiano di Padenghe (1542).

Despite the absence of documents relating to the provenance of the two paintings in question, it should be remembered that in 1878 Simeoni reported in the new parish church of Bardolino, on the Veronese shore of Lake Garda, "two good paintings by Zanon of Verona" (Simeoni 1878, p. 146). The scholar erroneously indicated the dedication of the church, whose façade had yet to be built, to S. Sebastiano, but it is certainly the new parish church dedicated to SS. Nicolò and Severo built on the site of the old church dedicated to S. Nicolò. The two canvases in question could be recognized, hypothetically, as those cited by Simoni, probably coming from the ancient pre-existing building.

Having said this, it is believed that for the two paintings depicting San Sebastiano and San Cristoforo, of good executive quality, evidence of a dismembered and lost polyptych by Zenone Veronese and for the reasons expressed above, they are of exceptional cultural interest pursuant to the art. 10, paragraph 3, letter e) of Legislative Decree 42/2004 and subsequent amendments

Overall good condition.
There are some minor retouchings.
The canvases are relined.