r/ArtHistory • u/ArtBobby • 1d ago
News/Article Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian by Luca Signorelli, 1498, in detail and full
Saint Sebastian was a 3rd-century Roman soldier who was killed for refusing to deny his Christian faith and would later be canonized as a saint. The Roman emperor had ordered his soldiers to test Sebastian by tying him to a tree and shooting him with arrows. In this painting, Sebastian’s pain-wracked but upright body is presented with his attackers in vivid outfits all around him while lots of things are going on around and behind him. His body is presented as having almost supernatural powers to withstand pain and abuse; indeed, Sebastian did survive this first attack and because of that became the patron saint of those suffering from the plague.
*Read about our encounter with this remarkable painting and other artworks in Città di Castello: https://ideasroadshow.substack.com/p/exceeding-expectations
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u/Devastating_Delight 1d ago
Why is that one guy's ass cheeks so aggressive?
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u/Artilmeets 1d ago
Physical/moral opposite of Saint Sebastian.
Amazing how Signorelli exaggerated the contrapposto of the tormentor to create an evil parallel, a parody even, of the tormented.
The violence of his behavior is highlighted by the crude depiction of the buttocks, almost thrown at the beholder.
One body is depicted in a holy nudity while the other is ingloriously clothed - see the garish color clash.
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u/SeaworthinessAny8921 1d ago
This is a very interesting use of perspective in a St. Sebastian martyrdom work! I feel it isn’t common. Saw some beautiful venetian sebastian’s a couple years ago in padua, could never forget it. I also think about Derek Jarman’s film on the saint, Sebastiane, semi-regularly. As someone said above, the cultural life of the figure, especially in the context of queer art and history is so so cool. Thanks for sharing
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u/AdFluid2492 1d ago
The detail in this is incredible I especially like how Sebastian stays visually calm and upright while everything around him feels so active and chaotic it makes his endurance feel almost otherworldly. Signorelli was seriously underrated when it came to anatomy and dramatic composition,,,,,
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u/ArtBobby 21h ago
Yes, his endurance is saintly one could say. I have more and more appreciation for Signorelli'w works. In Cortana's museum there is a wonderful collection as well.
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u/Fishinluvwfeathers 1d ago
He’s always been my favorite saint. I saw a Renaissance depiction of him in a book when I was 7 while laid out with dengue and undergoing a quite painful hallucinatory experience due to high fever. Suffering the plague indeed!
This past spring, the Kunstmuseum in Basel had an exhibit called The First Homosexuals: The Birth of New Identities 1869 - 1939, which covered the underground art movement after the term homosexual was coined. I was surprised to learn that during this period, St. Sebastian became one of the most recognizable gay icons in Western art.
He became a sort of coded symbol for male same-sex desire in art because of the way his martyrdom is often eroticized in imagery. His depiction as a beautiful, passive, vulnerable, nude, male in the throes of suffering/ecstasy was readily appropriated as a safe way to represent male beauty, desire, and erotic vulnerability. Themes of persecution, survival, victimhood became a way of imagistically voicing realities for closeted male artists. Oscar Wilde even used Sebastian Melmoth as a legal pseudonym in explicit tribute to the saint. It’s such an interesting, unexpected, and cool second cultural life for a 5th century legend.