Apotheosis of St Sebastian

Sebastian was a captain in the army of Emperor Diocletian (244–305). He offered support to Christians in Roman prisons and converted Romans to the Christian faith. Diocletian indicted him and ordered his execution by Numidian archers. Bound to a tree, Sebastian was pierced by arrows but did not die. The widow of the martyr Castulus nursed him back to health. When he publicly presented himself before Diocletian and his co-emperors to explain the futility of persecuting the Christians, he suffered his second martyrdom – death by beating, his body to be cast into the "cloaca maxima". Sebastian appeared in a dream to the Christian woman Lucina, who found and buried the body. Veneration of St Sebastian started in 4th-century Rome. Lorenzoni shows the martyr in Roman armour, kneeling on a cloud. He holds two arrows, and further attributes – quiver, bow and palm leaves – are presented by putti.

Ducke Astrid: Peter Anton Lorenzoni, Apotheosis of St Sebastian, in: Ducke Astrid, Habersatter Thomas (Hrsg./Edi.): von | from 0 auf | to 100. Residenzgalerie Salzburg 1923-2023. Salzburg 2023, S./p. 312-313