San Sebastian

This carving represents Saint Stephen according to his usual iconography; at the moment of his martyrdom, half naked, tied to a tree trunk and with the arrows of those who executed him. The dry and angular anatomy of the Saint, as well as the suffering expression of his face refer to the formation of Valmaseda in the late Gothic period. Iconographically it keeps close analogies with the San Sebastián of the main altarpiece of the church of San Pablo in Palencia, ascribed to Bigarny’s orbit, and with the one that Valmaseda himself is depicted in the altarpiece of the church of San Cebrián de Campos (Palencia). For María Elena Gómez-Moreno, it is a sure work of Valmaseda. It preserves remains of polychrome and gilding in the hair and the cloth that serves as clothing. / Extracted from: A.A.V.V.: Gómez-Moreno Institute (catalog). Granada, 1992, p. 177.