St Sebastian

Sebastian, born in Narbonne in the south of France, was a captain of the Praetorian Guard under Emperor Diocletian (244–305 AD). He assisted Christians in Roman prisons and converted Roman citizens to Christianity. Diocletian brought charges against him, ordering his execution by the arrows of Numidian archers. Tied to a tree, Sebastian was pierced with arrows, but did not die, and was nursed back to health by the widow of the martyr Castulus. When he harangued Diocletian and his co-emperors in public for their senseless persecution of Christians, he suffered his second martyrdom: he was beaten to death with cudgels, and his body thrown into the main sewer. Sebastian appeared in a dream to Lucina, a Christian lady, who recovered his body and gave him a proper burial. Veneration of St Sebastian began in Rome in the 4th century. In the north, the image of the naked Sebastian evolved to become the typical representation during the 15th–18th centuries. As a semi-nude figure, or wearing only a loin-cloth, he is depicted tied to a tree (Germany) or a post or pillar (Italy). The martyr's attributes are arrows, bow, crown, palm and club.
Here Sebastian, unconscious, sits with one arm hanging down and his head slumped back, to the right of the slanting tree-trunk which still bears the ropes that tied him. The two women tending his wounds form a diagonal with him and with the angel in the celestial light (top right), who holds a laurel wreath and a martyr’s palm above the lifeless figure. At the end of the diagonal are three arrows, already removed; the fourth is being carefully pulled from his right thigh by the woman in blue and yellow. No other wounds are evident. Next to Sebastian’s left hand lies his plumed helmet. The martyr is supported from behind by the second woman, who looks directly at the viewer.

Translated catalogue text from:
Ducke Astrid: Katalog. In: Astrid Ducke: Der Kuss der Musen. Festspiele göttlicher Inspiration. Residenzgalerie Salzburg. Salzburg 2020, S. 25–89, Österreichisch, Hl. Sebastian, S. 83, Abb. 77, S. 84

Translation: Gail Schamberger MA, Salzburg