Saint sebastian

Saint Sebastian by Sandro Botticelli by Sandro Botticelli.

Saint Irene nursing Saint Sebastian

Here, nothing violated the beauty of the body presented by Colacicchi, intensified by the raking light that arrives from the left, languid and and sensual in line with the modern reinterpretation activated in 1911 by Gabriele D’Annunzio’s Le martyre de Saint Sébastien.

This large altarpiece shows Saint Sebastian in the foreground, tied to a column and calmly enduring the torment of the arrows, while an angel on the left brings him the crown of martyrdom. What makes the painting so interesting is the antiquarian taste that permeates the composition and shows us with great topographical accuracy the […]

St Sébastien is probably the most depicted Saint. And the most depicted gay icon today. He is represented most of the times since the Renaissance as a young, slim, athletic, sensual, beautiful young man (even though during the first centuries he had another image, at least older). Maybe it is the reason he became a gay icon. Catedral de Se. Lisbon, Portugal. Photo by Brian McMorrow. Hundreds if not thousands of paintings, drawings, mosaics, engravings can be seen from St Sébastien…

What does St Sebastian, the patron saint of soldiers and athletes have to do with gay culture? Is St Sebastian a gay icon?