According to the chronicles, the latter work made a great impression on the other Neapolitan painters due to its monumentality, beauty and naturalism.
Luca Giordano and his followers were jealous of its quality and managed to persuade the nuns at the convent of San Sebastián to reject it. The artist subsequently donated the painting to a gentleman who placed it in his family chapel at the Church of Santa Maria dei Sette Dolori, and it later passed into the Capodimonte Museum.
Both canvases are dated after 1656, the year of the plague in Naples, as Sebastian is the patron saint of contagious diseases.
This version measures 6ft 10in x 4ft 9in (2.1 x 1.47m) and shows the influence of Caravaggio and Giordano. It will be offered at Alcala Subastas, Madrid, on June 13 where it is estimated to sell for €120,000.
