Analysing how St. Sebastian should be painted, Pacheco condemned the painters who painted the saint as a young man, which should be depicted, instead, as an old man.
“Baronius reproaches the painters who paint St. Sebastian as a young man, having to paint him with the appearance and beard of an old man, by the ancient mosaic image that is now preserved in its entirety in the church of St. Peter ad vincula, in Rome. It was the warning of Master Francisco de Medina in a painting of St. Sebastian that I consulted him, of which I will recall here; and, afterward, I have seen some ancient images of this glorious martyr of thirty or forty years of age and, in particular, the one that is in a stained glass window above the Door of the Tower of our Main Church, similar to the portrait of Emperor Charles V with a round beard, about fifty years old. The history that I painted, the year 1616, according to Master Medina, was for a Hospital of San Sebastián de Alcalá de Guadaira, where there is a Brotherhood of Mercy that dresses some poor people, cures and gives medicines to natives and foreigners, and makes a solemn feast day of the Invention of the Cross, on May 3 [. …]. To paint him the Church in the first martyrdom full of arrows and wounds, as Molano says, is that he is showing every wound and crying out through so many mouths to heaven, asking for mercy for us; and he frees us from the contagious evil”.
“Baronio reprehende a los pintores que pintan mancebo a San Sabastián, debiéndolo pintar con aspecto y barba de viejo, conforme a la imagen antigua de mosaico que hoy se conserva entera en la iglesia de San Pedro ad vincula, en Roma. Fue advertencia del Maestro Francisco de Medina en un cuadro de San Sebastián que le consulté, de que haré aqui memoria; y, después, he visto algunas imágenes antiguas deste glorioso mártir de treinta o cuarenta años de edad y, en especial la que está en una vidriera sobre la Puerta de la Torre de nuestra Iglesia Mayor, semejante al retrato del Emperador Carlos V con barba redonda, como de cincuenta años. La historia que yo pinté, año 1616, por parecer del Maestro Medina, fue para un Hospital de San Sebastián de Alcalá de Guadaira, donde hay una Cofradia de la Misericordia que viste algunos pobres, cura y da medicinas a naturales y forasteros y hace una solemne fiesta día de la Invención de la Cruz, a 3 de mayo,[…].Pintarlo la Iglesia en el primer martirio lleno de saetas y heridas, como dice Molano, es que está mostrando cada herida y clamando por tantas bocas al cielo, pidiendo misericordia para nosostros; y nos libra del mal contagioso”.
Pacheco 1990, 681, n. 71-72,75;
