Gods and Foolish Grandeur: Saint Sebastian

Sunday, February 11, 2018

And some rope - Saint Sebastian, part II

"Glaube, Liebe, Hoffnung" (Faith, Love, Hope), by Michael Triegel, 2010.

Andrea Vocarro, circa 1640.

Joachim Wtewael, 1600.

(In the style of?) Pierre & Gilles, ND.

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri), circa 1632-34.

Giuseppe Vermiglio, circa 1621.

Antonio Bellucci, circa 1716-1718.

Juan de Valdés Leal, second half of the seventeenth century.

From the American Pyrography series, by Robert Sherer. after 1999.

Erzsébet Korb, circa 1921.

Hans Holbein the Elder, 1516.

Tazzio Paris (?), ND.

Guido Reni and Francesco Albani (while they were students of Carracci), circa 1595-98.

Giovanni Battista Caracciolo, 1625.

Nicolas Régnier, circa 1620.

"King Sebastian", by Carlos Barahona Possollo, 1992.

Marco D'Oggiono, 1520.

Giovanni Battista Cima da Conegliano, circa 1500-02.

Alfred Courmes, 1934.

Peter Paul Rubens, circa 1608.

Mishima as St. Sebastian, by Kishin Shinoyama, 1968. (Two images.)

Hans Memling, circa 1475.

José de Ribera, 1648.

The studio Jan Van Scorel, 1542.

Mark Nixon, by the Western Photography Guild, circa 1950s.

School of Nicolas Régnier, first half of the seventeenth century.

Marcantonio Bassetti, circa 1620.

Francesco Furini, second quarter of the seventeenth century.

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, 1850-51.

Kristyn Brown, circa 2015.

Carl Schwalbach, 1918.

Bronzino, circa 1533.

Lorenzo Lotto, 1531.

Ronaldo Gutierrez, circa 2009.

School of Caravaggio, 1607.

Paul Troger, circa 1746.

Lodovico Carracci, second half of the sixteenth century.

Gustavo Ramirez Cruz, circa 2014.

Sir Anthony van Dyck, 1620-21.

Andrea Mantegna, 1506.

Owe Zerge, twentieth century.

School of Giovanni Domenico Cerrini, seventeenth century.

Phil Lambert, by the Western Photography Guild, circa 1950s.

Sunday, January 14, 2018

So many... arrows - Saint Sebastian, part I

Paul Delaroche, 1822.

Salvator Rosa, 1650.

When you go onto the internet looking for images of Saint Sebastian, expect to be sitting there a while. A long while. Other than Christ, himself, in the history of art I can think of no male religious figure who has been portrayed more frequently. (Maybe David or John the Baptist turn up more often?) Sometimes the compositions he inhabits are elaborate, with soldiers and landscapes, fluttering drapery, even a cherub or two. Sometimes Saint Irene and a maid are shown busy at work, tending to the devout pincushion. But most often just an underdressed young fellow, a few arrows, and bit of rope will suffice. And perhaps a tree.

Vicente López y Portaña, circa 1795-1800.

Nicolas Régnier, 1625.(Régnier and his studio made rather a career of painting St. Sebastians.)

But why is he everywhere? He's not a particularly useful saint; he doesn't actually serve much biblical purpose. The only things he really has to recommend him are high drama and pulchritude. A whole lot of male pulchritude. I expect those qualities - particularly the latter - are what has kept him in such frequent rotation. At any rate, here is a selection of "saintly" torsos. I haven't included all that many that are very well known, or ones that I've already included elsewhere on this blog. This is just a tiny sampling of the apparently infinite moods of Sebastians: calm and writhing, pretty and ugly, silly and tragic, gross and lyrical.