Final Considerations

As has been stated earlier, probably no recognized Christian saint is more popular, or well known than St. Sebastian. He was venerated early in the Christian era because of his unflagging devotion to his faith and his confrontation with the supreme worldly power of the day, the August Emperor Diocletian. He was canonized over a thousand years after his death but he was venerated by the masses before. Yet for a millennium he remained deep in the shadows of the saintly closet. St. Sebastian was suddenly dragged to the forefront when the Black Death ravaged Europe. Suddenly he became the super-star of saints and every artist of note as well as those hack artists far down the aesthetic ladder from the XVI^th through the XVII^th Centuries portrayed this martyr-saint in one manner or another. The combined oeuvre, where the martyr-saint is shown, comes close to out numbering those of all other saints combined.

His earliest representations depict him as a mature, bearded, Byzantine grandee, but the Renaissance soon changed that. The three noted paintings of Andrea Mantegna show the martyr-saint as a mature man, not a youth. However, soon a youthful Apollonian ideal was established and that paradigm, that beau ideal lasted for over a century. Often times St. Sebastian's representation is compared to that of Apollo. But, Apollo is generally shown as a fully developed, idealized male. The Renaissance and Mannerist interpretations of the martyr-saint may be more likened to an Adonis-type or even a Narcissus-type figure--i.e., past early adolescence, but not yet fully mature, physically. Particularly during the Renaissance and most of the Mannerist Periods, St. Sebastian was idealized and pictured as a handsome, even beautiful prototypical young male. His features were even, flawless and mirrored only what was deemed as perfection of that day.

St. Sebastian was lionized by the famed XVII^th Century Italian artist Guido Reni (1575-1642) in numerous interpretations. Reni depicted the martyr-saint as a pretty, effete, post-adolescent with doe, limpid eyes turned heavenward. His lips were often full, flushed and slightly parted. St. Sebastian's flawless body was pierced with one to three arrows, but without any unsightly gore. It was Reni's interpretation that struck a resonant chord with many XIX^th Century men of letters, particularly those who had a same sex inclination--e.g., A. W. C. Lindsay, Walter H. Pater, Oscar Wilde, and Frederick W. Rolfe. Not only did they envision within these representations a delectable youth of immense desirability, they also saw in his quiet, passive acceptance of his fate a parallel to their own inclination and its public acceptability. St. Sebastian's pain became theirs. St. Sebastian's ecstasy also became theirs. The attention of these writers soon blossomed out of all proportion and the Christian St. Sebastian unwittingly became adopted, among his numerous areas of patronage, as the patron of gay people. The late XVIII^th and the XIX^th Centuries saw a diminution in the attention and portrayals of the martyr-saint. But, the XX^th Century soon witnessed a reemergence, an explosion of epic proportion in St. Sebastian's popularity. But, with an essential and philosophic difference. No longer was St. Sebastian's raison d'être Christian/Church centered. The martyr-saint was no longer carefully or coyly draped 'bout his nether region. Numerous XX^th Century artists produced paintings of the martyr-saint in a modern context and with fully exposed, often substantial genitalia. Some even portrayed St. Sebastian with an erection. With no temerity, St. Sebastian became St. Sebastiana in some representations.

The implied forms of the XV^th through the XVII^th Centuries were fully realized in the XX^th Century. The implied eroticism of the XV^th through the XVII^th Centuries was roundly exploited, even emphasized by the XX^th and XXI^st Century artists. St. Sebastian became a psychological-sexual mooring for the gay and lesbian community. Interesting enough, however, St. Roch who figured promently with St. Sebastian during the XVI^th and the XVIII^th Centuries, was left out of the equation.