by Tom Gurney
Tom Gurney BSc (Hons) is an art history expert with over 20 years experience
Published on June 19, 2020 / Updated on October 15, 2026
Email: tomgurney1@gmail.com / Phone: +44 7429 011000
Titian's Study for Saint Sebastian in the Averoldi Altarpiece: Introduction
A man twists against a support, one leg bent and the other pressing toward the ground. His body fills a small blue-grey sheet. Titian drew this figure while preparing the Saint Sebastian panel of the Averoldi Polyptych, made for the high altar of Santi Nazaro e Celso in Brescia. The study is now in the Städel Museum, Frankfurt, as object 5518 Z. Its date is about 1519–20; the finished five-part altarpiece is dated 1522.[1]
The name “Saint Sebastian at the Resurrection” reflects the altarpiece's arrangement rather than the drawing's subject. The Resurrection is the central panel; Sebastian occupies a side panel. The Städel's exact title—Study for St. Sebastian in the high altar of SS. Nazarro e Celso, Brescia—keeps those parts distinct. The sheet studies a saint's body for a larger ensemble, not the risen Christ.[1]
At a Glance
- WorkStudy for Saint Sebastian in the Averoldi Polyptych
- Research recordStädel Museum
Annotated details from Study for Saint Sebastian in the Averoldi Polyptych
Select a numbered area to find its detail below. Open a detail image to view it larger.
Details from STUDY FOR SAINT SEBASTIAN IN THE AVEROLDI POLYPTYCH
Saint Sebastian Pen and Wash
Image: Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main. Public domain. Cropped and resized for the splash and details. Image source · Reuse licence
Contents
- How the figure is constructed
- The Berlin sketches and Michelangelo
- What is on the reverse?
- From altarpiece study to museum object
How the figure is constructed
Titian used brown ink and washes with white heightening on grey-blue laid paper. The sheet measures only 182 by 115 millimetres. Its size makes the physical concentration striking: a body that would eventually function within a monumental altar has been worked out in a space small enough to hold in one hand. The cool paper acts as a middle tone. Darker strokes and washes build shadow; added white makes selected areas stand forward. These are observable functions of the media, rather than evidence that the final panel used the same colours.[1]
The figure's legs and torso pull in different directions. One knee rises over a rounded form, while the other foot braces below. The head bends toward the chest. Strong ink marks define the binding support and the turn of the torso; lighter lines remain around the body. The sketch does not hide that Titian is searching for a pose that can carry tension and still read as a coherent human figure. An isolated reproduction can make it look finished, but the marks are part of a working design.[1]
This matters for the saint's story. Sebastian is traditionally bound and shot with arrows. In the study, the body's strain and its relationship to the support establish the figure before the full setting and all the narrative details are resolved. Titian's problem was how to make a single suffering body compelling within a panel that would stand beside other images on an altar. The Städel identifies the work as preparatory, and its comparison with the finished Brescia panel gives that visual search a specific destination.[1]
The Berlin sketches and Michelangelo
The Frankfurt drawing was not the only attempt at the pose. Berlin's Kupferstichkabinett owns another sheet, KdZ 5962, with six sketches of Saint Sebastian and a Madonna and Child. The Berlin curator describes variations in the position of the advancing leg and in the shading, all testing how a strongly twisting body might be shown clearly. The six sketches are quicker trials; the Frankfurt sheet is presented in Berlin's account as a more advanced step in shaping the figure. They are separate objects in separate museums, not front and back of one sheet.[1][2]
The chronology has an unusually close historical anchor. Berlin's catalogue says that Tebaldi, the Duke of Ferrara's agent in Venice, saw and described the Saint Sebastian panel at least in its design stage on 1 December 1520. The altarpiece itself bears a 1522 date. These facts place the exploration of Sebastian's pose before the completed commission without requiring us to assign every line on either surviving drawing to a particular day. The Frankfurt sheet is broadly dated about 1519–20 by its owner.[1][2]
The Städel connects Titian's figure to Michelangelo's Rebellious Slave, carved in 1513 and now in the Louvre. Berlin's curatorial account likewise sees the more resolved Frankfurt pose in relation to that sculpture. The comparison helps explain the body under pressure: its turn is athletic and three-dimensional, and its support helps make the torsion visible. It does not mean Titian simply copied Michelangelo. His drawing had another subject, scale, medium and eventual place within an altarpiece.[1][2]
What is on the reverse?
The reverse of the Frankfurt sheet is also drawn on. The Städel catalogues a head in profile, three feet and a lower leg there under the linked object 5518 V Z. These studies are smaller examinations of parts rather than a second complete Saint Sebastian composition. The paired sides show a working sheet reused for different questions of pose and anatomy. They are particularly useful beside the Berlin page of alternatives: Titian could test a whole figure and particular parts across available paper.[1][3]
The Städel also records later writing on the sheet, including a number at the top left of the main side. The caption is a historical mark on the object; the museum does not present it as Titian's date or signature. Reading a drawing means distinguishing the marks of the design from marks added as it was collected and catalogued.[1]
From altarpiece study to museum object
Altobello Averoldi was the patron associated with the high altar commission. The Städel identifies the finished polyptych as five panels at Santi Nazaro e Celso. The Frankfurt drawing thus belongs to a specific act of preparation for a church, even though its present form invites close study as an independent work on paper. The Averoldi altarpiece page explains the painted ensemble; the drawings guide places this sheet within Titian's surviving graphic work.[1]
The sheet's own attribution had a history. The Städel says it was thought to be by Johann David Passavant when acquired and that it was not recognized as Titian until the early twentieth century. The catalogue also records a historic attribution to Jacques de Gheyn II. Today the museum treats this as one of the few dateable drawings on paper whose attribution to Titian is secure. That judgment is stronger than a casual similarity to the finished painting: it rests on the work's formal and historical relationship to the Brescia commission as understood by the collecting institution.[1]
The museum tentatively lists the sheet among the holdings of Johann Friedrich Städel and his 1816 estate, while leaving earlier parts of its history open. The uncertainty should stay visible. We know where the drawing is now and what commission it served; its entire journey from Titian's workshop to Frankfurt has not been reconstructed.[1]
The Städel labels its picture of the sheet Public Domain, allowing its colour and both sides to be examined in detail online. In the main study, follow the braced foot to the bent knee, then the contracting torso and lowered head. Turn to the reverse and compare the separate foot studies. Finally, look at Berlin's six variations. Across these objects, a painted saint emerges through choices about weight, twist and support rather than appearing in a single effortless invention.[1][2][3]
Researched Titian and related works
Frequently Asked Questions
No. It prepares Saint Sebastian, a side panel of the Averoldi Polyptych. The Resurrection occupies the centre.[1]
The main study is in the Städel Museum, Frankfurt, object 5518 Z. Its reverse is catalogued separately as 5518 V Z.[1][3]
Brown ink and washes, with white heightening on grey-blue laid paper.[1]
Discussion
What do you notice when you look closely at Titian's Study for Saint Sebastian in the Averoldi Altarpiece?
Share a specific observation or a source that adds context.
Reader Insights
Which detail changes your reading?
How does its original setting affect what we see?
Which part of the evidence remains uncertain?
Join the Conversation
Add your observation below.
References
- Städel Museum, “Study for St. Sebastian in the high altar of SS. Nazarro e Celso, Brescia,” object 5518 Z. View source.
- Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett, “Sechs Skizzen des heiligen Sebastian und eine Madonna mit Kind (Polyptychon Averoldi),” KdZ 5962. View source.
- Städel Museum, “Study of a head in profile, three feet and a lower leg,” reverse of 5518 Z. View source.
