When Anthony van Dyck arrived in Genoa in 1623, he was already celebrated for his portraits, but it was his religious commissions that would cement his reputation among Italian patrons. Among these, his preparations for The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian stand out for their intensity and inventiveness. This particular sheet, Studies for ‘The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian’ (verso), offers a rare glimpse into the artist’s process, revealing the rapid, searching lines with which he worked out the poses and expressions of his figures.

Such studies were not meant for public display, yet they now provide some of the most intimate evidence of van Dyck’s hand at work. The story van Dyck chose to explore is the martyrdom of Saint Sebastian, a Roman soldier condemned to death for his Christian faith during the reign of Emperor Diocletian. In the studies, the saint’s body twists in anticipation of the arrows, his arms bound to a tree or post, while the executioners ready their bows. The gestures are urgent, the anatomy precise but searching—as if the artist is wrestling with how best to capture the moment between suffering and spiritual endurance.

Unlike Andrea Mantegna’s famous treatment, which emphasizes Sebastian’s stoic calm, van Dyck seems to probe the psychological tension of the scene, the vulnerability of flesh and the resolve of faith. Although the finished painting is now lost, sheets like this one survive as testaments to van Dyck’s working method and artistic ambitions during his Italian period. The drawing’s medium is uncertain—possibly chalk or ink—but its energy is unmistakable. Such studies often remained in the artist’s studio, passed to pupils or collectors after his death, and only later entered museum collections.

Today, this sheet is valued not only as a step toward a vanished masterpiece, but also as a window into the restless creativity that would soon make van Dyck one of the leading lights of the Baroque movement.