To paraphrase Kenneth Clark: no nude, however abstract, can fail to raise in the spectator some vestige of erotic feeling. Michaelangelo's David standing relaxed and glaring at his quarry in unabashed nudity is worlds --Nay! Eons apart from the obvious, engorged, leather clad, homo-priapic figures of Tom of Finland. But to state that the figure of Michaelangelo does not raise in the spectator some vestige of erotic feeling would be untrue. But, most are more impressed with its aesthetic and physical monumentality, the implied power of the young David's gaze and implied power and energy, the beauty of the whole, rather than the attention that may be paid to the individual parts.

There is an inherent sensuality in Antonello's young St. Sebastian. For a number of viewers it may appeal to a purely physical/sensual level. The soft contraposto, the post-adolescent body and the wan expression which is part questioning, part acceptance, all add to this representation's allure. On the other hand, Guido's Sebastians are more sensuous than the Antonello Messina example and may be seen to be too obvious, too overt in their implied sensual-eroticism, and border on the jejune. Certainly, both A. W. C. Lindsay and Oscar Wilde were drawn to Guido's representations as they perceived in them strong homoerotic implications, at least conditions that appealed to their own particular sensibilities and desires. Oscar Wilde, who assumed the name of Sebastian Melmoth in his self-exile after his imprisonment, said of Guido Reni's Capitoline St. Sebastian, that it portrayed "a lovely . . . boy with crisp, clustering hair and red lips."

Were these St. Sebastians mirrors? Obviously Wilde perceived in Reni's image certain parallels, certain visual pheromones that called to his mind his former young love. Why did these images of Guido Reni seem so replete with erotic triggers? Certainly there were hundreds of images of the martyr-saint available for viewing. Antonello da Messina's young Sebastian, apparently did not release such a flood. But then, the image painted by Antonello is far different in content and presentation that those executed by Guido Reni. But then, the Baroque is different from the Renaissance, it is more obvious in its use of color, it is more obvious in its texture, it is more obvious in its movement and it is more obvious in its content. A parallel may be observed in Botticelli's Venus who is young and relatively innocent. Whereas, Titian's Venus has been around the block a few times! Both Antonello's and Guido's representations of the martyr-saint may hold some reflected homoerotic interest, but, it is highly doubtful that homoeroticism was their sole raison d'être.

Nonetheless, in the second half of the XIX^th Century, there was an explosion of interest in all things Sebastian and, to wit: the cross-over implications, particularly in England. This interest spread through the Western World and took root. Writers became enamored in the power and/or dominance of one man over another--i.e., Diocletian over Sebastian, an historical example of bondage and domination, passive-dominant. Writers became enamored in the quiet, passive acceptance of St. Sebastian as he awaited his fate--i.e., the allure of passive acceptance in an Apollonian male figure. Writers became enamored in the sadomasochistic adoration of impending death writ across the face of the martyr-saint. Writers became enamored in the depiction of the helpless, bound martyr-saint, a hapless locked prisoner, or in Sebastian's case tied, in an unyielding social order. Writers became enamored in the depiction, the adoration of passion inherent in St. Sebastian. Spiritual passion was easily transmuted to physical passion and physical passion into sexual passion. After all, St. Theresa of Avila made that leap! Writers became enamored in the depiction of the semi-nude male body from adolescence to maturity. The various depictions were a luxurious smorgasbord of sources for any and all incipient desires and passions. And, they became enamored in the penetration of that body, albeit, by arrows. In the group vernacular, St. Sebastian was the ideal passive, bottom! The iconography surrounding St. Sebastian, the myth surrounding this martyr-saint was a literal hotbed of incipient, or implied, or applicable, or transmuted homoerotic implications.

Is it because the trigger that had been in place for centuries was finally pulled in the XX^th and XXI^st Centuries when such delights, such preferences were passively accepted and gradually decriminalized? St. Sebastian was out of the closet. Not only was he out of the closet, his religious association was hardly considered and the raison d'etre for the depiction of the martyr-saint was socio-political in nature. Images of St. Sebatian in the late XX^th and early XXI^st Centuries include: the Spanish Manuel (Manolo) Yanes paints a series of circular compositions (1997) which tend to hide the figure in their semi abstract composition (See: Figure 256); the American Jovan Radakovich portrays the saint (2000)from the rear and elevated above a series of arches (See: Figure 257); Paul Allam, an Englishman (2000), paints the handsome, posed, bound, muscular, well endowed figure in an obvious attempt to focus our attention (See: Figure 258); Ernesto Lozano Riviero, a Mexican Aritst, utilized abstraction (a. 2000), but nonetheless our eyes are focused on the genitalia (See: Figure 259); The Portuguese Gonzalo Benard minimizes detail (See: Figure 260); Piotr Wachowski, a Pole, presents a modern St. Sebastian (2004) to which John Paul II is bowing (See: Figure 261), a socio-religious statement; Richard Russell (2006) presents a more cerebral St. Sebastian (See: Figure 262); the Canadian, Andre Durand (2007) portrays a clearly sensual representation (See: Figure 263); and Alejandro Perez Becerra, from Mexico (2008) presents a montage of images that clearly focuses on the sadomasochistic aspects (See: Figure 264).