Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

574. MS M.399, fol. 289v

ca. 1515

Da Costa hours
Illuminated by Simon Bening (1483/84–1561)

Ghent, Belgium
172 x 125 mm
MS M.399, fol. 289v

Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan (1837–1913), 1910

Sebastian of Rome: Scene, Torture—A nimbed Sebastian wearing a short loin cloth, stands with his back against tree and his hands and feet bound with a rope to the tree. He has three arrows in his chest and abdomen, shot by two torturers, one wearing a hat and armed with bows and arrows. Behind them are two onlookers wearing hats. In the background to the left, a group of figures, some carrying spears, gathers outside of city gates.
The scene is framed by a border decorated with foliate ornament, including thistles, with pearls around the edges.