Statuette of Saint Sebastian

The sculpture shows Sebastian, a Roman officer who was punished for his Christian beliefs during the Roman persecutions of Christians during the late 3rd or early 4th Century. Sebastian was clubbed to death and later he became a martyr and saint, and as such he is pictured as a handsome youth, tied to a tree and shot at by his own archers – such as in this 17th Century sculpture. There are several holes on his body from which arrows used to stick out. The motive is common and in it his body is twisted in an agony that often looks to be on the verge of enjoyable rather than insufferable. The body position and the fact that he is usually nude except for a loincloth, shows off his body features and gives the impression that the body is to be desired.
According to the legends some of Sebastian’s achievements were to cure a mute woman and to make a blind girl see again. After his death people turned to him in hope for good health and healthy bodies. During the Black Death when the plague swept across Europe, Saint Sebastian became a patron saint and a protector of potential victims. After this pictures of him became collectors’ items within homoerotic communities during the 18th and 19th Centuries. This statuette may very well have been such an item. Sebastian had become an icon with a new meaning and he was now considered a patron saint and protector within homoerotic circles. This was revived during the HIV/AIDS-epidemic of the late 20th Century.