St. Sebastian Chapel: the altar painting

In the central part of the altarpiece made of black and white marble (carvings), there is a 17th-century painting depicting the martyrdom of St. Sebastian. The authorship of the painting is disputed. Some researchers consider the painting to be an Italian work, while others attribute it to the Bernardine painter Francis Lekszycki (1600-1668).

The life-size figure of the young man is shown against a background of a town landscape and torturers riding away on horseback. According to the description of the martyrdom, the saint is tied to a tree and pierced with arrows. Sebastian is believed to have been a Roman soldier of unremarkable beauty, a commander of the imperial guard converted to Christianity. He was probably killed in 288 on the orders of the Emperor Diocletian for reproaching him for his cruelty to persecuted co-religionists.

Above the image of St. Sebastian, at the top of the altar, there is a smaller and later image of St. John Nepomucene, painted by Francis Ignatius Molitor (1741-1794 or 1821).