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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture On 04/23/12, Dr Jim Bugslag wrote: > The surviving St Sebastian altarpiece from the 1370s from Florence > > by Giovanni del Biondo makes the connection with the plague > > indisputable. The bishop of Florence had sought in Rome a relic of > > St Sebastian in the wake of the Black Death. The altarpiece was > > made in relation to that relic, and the triptych shows a large > > central image of St Sebastian tied to a post and being shot at with > > arrows - a typical image of St Sebastian, except that here he has so > > many arrows sticking out of him that he looks rather like a > > hedgehog. The wings depict narrative scenes related to St > > Sebastian's relics, including one of him coming to the aid of plague > > victims. The comparison of Sebastian to a hedgehog is as old as his legendary Passio by pseudo-Ambrose of Milan: Tunc posuerunt eum milites in medio campo, & hinc inde eum ita sagittis repleuerunt, vt quasi hericius ita esset hirsutibus icta sagittarum. (para. 85 in the text in the AA.SS.) Medieval depictions of Sebastian virtually bristling with arrows seemingly reflect either this text or later ones transmitting the comparison. Best, John Dillon ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html