medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
> Sebastian (d. c. 300) Sebastian was a victim of Diocletian's persecution.
> Diocletian ordered S. shot to death
> with arrows. Thus all the art of Sebastian looking like a porcupine.
But,
> despite the iconography, Sebastian failed to die of this treatment; he was
> miraculously revived and turned up at the palace again the next day.
If I am not mistaken, early depictions of Sebastian were innocent of this
dramatic moment; indeed, I am given to understand he was originally
portrayed as a bearded older man (perhaps more nearly resembling the
porcupine). The enormous number of paintings of a youthful, virile, nearly
nude Sebastian are largely functions of Renaissance patrons' interests
(often attributed to painters' interests). The presumption is that
Sebastian offered a rare opportunity for a sanctioned male nude prior to the
ascendence of Classical myths as subjects for artists (and for patrons'
commissions).
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