Redefining the Spanish Renaissance: Diego de Siloe’s Alluring Marble of Saint Sebastian

TEFAF Meet the Experts are interactive conversations around works of art presented at TEFAF. We hope these conversations encourage visitors to further engage with the incredible objects at the fair and learn from our vast network of knowledgeable experts. Diego de Siloe (ca. 1495–1563) is considered a master of the Spanish Renaissance. His arrival in Naples marked a turning point in his career. After leaving his native Burgos (his father Gil de Siloe was the most accomplished late-Gothic sculptor of his time), the artist infused his block of marble with the numerous stylistic elements he had absorbed on his travels through Florence, Rome and eventually Naples. In this Meet the Expert, our expert, Andreas Pampoulides will discuss this alluring marble statue carved after de Siloe’s arrival in Naples, in 1514-15. This languid and highly emotive work represents the unequivocal bridge between the former still-late-Gothic-inspired figures and the high-Renaissance works that followed it, with countless references from the masters he closely studied in Italy: Donatello, Leonardo, Raphael and Michelangelo. The statue of Saint Sebastian will soon be exhibited in the ground-breaking exhibition The Other Renaissance. Spanish Artists in Naples in the early Cinquecento at Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid (18/10/2022 – 29/01/2023). This work is currently offered on the international market for the first time and can be viewed at TEFAF Maastricht this year.