Reni, so famous in his time as to be called with only the name of baptism, Guido, often preceded by the exceedingly encomiastic adjective "divine", after a formation occurred at home, from twenty-five years had frequent and long stays in Rome, where he was greatly appreciated by the family of the pope and other members of the papal court. This canvas, where Saint Sebastian is represented, which according to tradition was a Roman soldier from Gaul who was martyred at the time of Diocletian, must be the result of that kind of commissions, because in addition to the high pictorial quality, Recent analyses have shown to add a valuable achievement, given that for the blue of the sky has been widely used lapis lazuli, so expensive to be usually provided or paid separately by the client.
The image, responding to the classical ideals of Reni’s poetics, does not show the body of a martyr scarred by darts and crossed by streams of blood, but the idealized body of a young man with a decidedly sensual beauty.
Dating to around 1615, the canvas was so successful that Cardinal Borghese wanted a similar version, at least in good part of the artist’s workshop, and now kept at the Pinacoteca Capitolina. Reni later has to be returned to this subject, proposing it with different variations: of this other type are known replicas in different museums of the world (Louvre, Prado, Dulwich Picture Gallery), but none reaches the quality of this, finished in the collection Brignole - Sale already before the end of the seventeenth century.

The four paintings kept in Palazzo Rosso are part of a scattered series of Twelve Apostles - originally completed by images of Christ and the Virgin for a total of fourteen paintings - commissioned by the noble Gio. Carlo Doria to the Bolognese artist, but Milanese by adoption, Procaccini; a letter from the painter Simon Vouet to the client testifies the execution in the autumn of 1621.
A second letter written by Horace Fregoso to the Doria, however, in December of the same year, documented a serious infirmity of Procaccini, for which the critics had assumed that only Saint Thomas was at the hands of the master and that the other paintings, which appeared inferior in quality, had been made by some help. However, it seems unlikely that the artist entrusted a student with the task of realizing part of a cycle commissioned by his most illustrious client; the last restorations have also highlighted the homogeneous pictorial quality of the four canvases.
The identity of the saints is clear in consideration of the attributes of the figures, which recur not by chance also in other series of equal subject, such as the one made by Pietro Paolo Rubens today at the Prado: Saint Paul holds his hand on the handle of the sword, that symbolizes his beheading; Saint Thomas holds a spear instrument of his martyrdom; Saint Simon the book and Saint Matthew the halberd, the weapon with which he was martyred.The figures are monumental and stand out for the full-bodied relief and for the accentuated torsional movement of the bodies: Procaccini had worked as a sculptor between 1591 and 1599 at the Duomo yard in Milan and this activity has undoubtedly influenced his style of painting. The marked chiaroscuro of the paintings is instead common to the formal choices of the other Lombards active at the beginning of the seventeenth century for the religious commission of the counter-reformed church: in particular Giovan Battista Crespi the "Cerano" and Pier Francesco Mazzucchelli the "Morazzone".
The four paintings became part of the collection of Palazzo Rosso in about 1730, thanks to the purchase of Gio. Francesco II Brignole - Sale.

The four paintings kept in Palazzo Rosso are part of a scattered series of Twelve Apostles - originally completed by images of Christ and the Virgin for a total of fourteen paintings - commissioned by the noble Gio. Carlo Doria to the Bolognese artist, but Milanese by adoption, Procaccini; a letter from the painter Simon Vouet to the client testifies the execution in the autumn of 1621.
A second letter written by Horace Fregoso to the Doria, however, in December of the same year, documented a serious infirmity of Procaccini, for which the critics had assumed that only Saint Thomas was at the hands of the master and that the other paintings, which appeared inferior in quality, had been made by some help. However, it seems unlikely that the artist entrusted a student with the task of realizing part of a cycle commissioned by his most illustrious client; the last restorations have also highlighted the homogeneous pictorial quality of the four canvases.
The identity of the saints is clear in consideration of the attributes of the figures, which recur not by chance also in other series of equal subject, such as the one made by Pietro Paolo Rubens today at the Prado: Saint Paul holds his hand on the handle of the sword, that symbolizes his beheading; Saint Thomas holds a spear instrument of his martyrdom; Saint Simon the book and Saint Matthew the halberd, the weapon with which he was martyred.
The figures are monumental and stand out for the full-bodied relief and for the accentuated torsional movement of the bodies: Procaccini had worked as a sculptor between 1591 and 1599 at the Duomo yard in Milan and this activity has undoubtedly influenced his style of painting. The marked chiaroscuro of the paintings is instead common to the formal choices of the other Lombards active at the beginning of the seventeenth century for the religious commission of the counter-reformed church: in particular Giovan Battista Crespi the "Cerano" and Pier Francesco Mazzucchelli the "Morazzone".
The four paintings became part of the collection of Palazzo Rosso in about 1730, thanks to the purchase of Gio. Francesco II Brignole - Sale.

The four paintings kept in Palazzo Rosso are part of a scattered series of Twelve Apostles - originally completed by images of Christ and the Virgin for a total of fourteen paintings - commissioned by the noble Gio. Carlo Doria to the Bolognese artist, but Milanese by adoption, Procaccini; a letter from the painter Simon Vouet to the client testifies the execution in the autumn of 1621.
A second letter written by Horace Fregoso to the Doria, however, in December of the same year, documented a serious infirmity of Procaccini, for which the critics had assumed that only Saint Thomas was at the hands of the master and that the other paintings, which appeared inferior in quality, had been made by some help. However, it seems unlikely that the artist entrusted a student with the task of realizing part of a cycle commissioned by his most illustrious client; the last restorations have also highlighted the homogeneous pictorial quality of the four canvases.
The identity of the saints is clear in consideration of the attributes of the figures, which recur not by chance also in other series of equal subject, such as the one made by Pietro Paolo Rubens today at the Prado: Saint Paul holds his hand on the handle of the sword, that symbolizes his beheading; Saint Thomas holds a spear instrument of his martyrdom; Saint Simon the book and Saint Matthew the halberd, the weapon with which he was martyred.
The figures are monumental and stand out for the full-bodied relief and for the accentuated torsional movement of the bodies: Procaccini had worked as a sculptor between 1591 and 1599 at the Duomo yard in Milan and this activity has undoubtedly influenced his style of painting. The marked chiaroscuro of the paintings is instead common to the formal choices of the other Lombards active at the beginning of the seventeenth century for the religious commission of the counter-reformed church: in particular Giovan Battista Crespi the "Cerano" and Pier Francesco Mazzucchelli the "Morazzone".
The four paintings became part of the collection of Palazzo Rosso in about 1730, thanks to the purchase of Gio. Francesco II Brignole - Sale.

From the artist’s book of accounts we learn that the painting depicting The suicide of Cato the Uticense dates back to 1641. The subject is that handed down by Plutarch, according to which Cato, a man rigid to the principles of stoicism and supporter of Pompey at the time of the civil war, knowing that the cause of these was lost, He killed himself by thrusting into his belly the sword that had been previously taken from him in vain.
In the seventeenth-century culture the character embodied the ideal of man coherent to himself to the point of facing death fearlessly: a moralizing reading certainly valid in this case, given that the client of the work (a lawyer from Perugia resident in Rome) ordered the painter another subject similar to this, the Death of Seneca, which was later dispersed.

The painting, dated to 1620, is a work of the first maturity of the artist, whose training was influenced mainly by the chromatic lesson of Titian, which is the true premise to his painting of touch, large spots of liquid color and bright, and the encounter with the art of the Carracci, especially Ludovico. The relationship with the Bolognese painters, in particular, was essential for Guercino because it allowed him to broaden his horizons and to enter into contact with the most up-to-date pictorial culture of the time, without forgetting that genuine naturalistic vein that is the basis of his inspiration. The painting is a precious example of the artist’s style, characterized by a warm chromatic range and a strong chiaroscuro "in stain"; the most tender is the figure of the angel, seen beside the majesty of the Eternal Father. The small canvas was commissioned to Guercino by Cristoforo Locatelli and was to be placed on the relic of the altarpiece depicting The Vestition of Saint William of Aquitaine in the church of San Gregorio in Bologna. According to the Bolognese historian Carlo Cesare Malvasia, the client, impressed by the extraordinary beauty of the painting, decided to keep it for himself, putting in his place a copy, which remained in place until 1962.The painting was part of a small group of works of great value of Palazzo Rosso that the Duchess of Galliera brought with her in the Parisian residence and therefore did not fall within the donation of 1874, but it passed into property to the City of Genoa only after the death of the gentleman by virtue of his legacy.