The composition is among the earliest chiaroscuro woodcuts by this artist. It was executed following Zanetti’s return from his ‘Grand Tour.’ The ensemble of 130 drawings by Parmigianino he was able to acquire from the collection of the Earl of Arundel would become an inexhaustible source of inspiration.

In its torsion and splayed legs, and in the upward-striving energy of the upper body, the figure of a nude man tied to a tree – traditionally identified with Saint Sebastian – constitutes a masterful paraphrase of the central figure of the Laocoon group that was rediscovered in Rome in 1506.