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Rubens. St. Sebastian.
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c. 1618.
Oil on canvas, 200 x 128 cm.
Gemaldegalerie, Berlin, Germany.
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St. Sebastian was an officer in Rome in 283. Emperor Diocletian named him Commander of the Praetorian Guard, unaware that he had became a Christian.
Sebastian sustained the courage of two imprisoned confessors, Mark and Marcellian, as well as other Christian prisoners. He did not conceal his faith
and was arrested and sentenced to death by being shot with arrows.
Irene, the widow of St. Castulus the martyr, took the still breathing Sebastian to a safe place and treated his wounds. Once cured, Sebastian defied
the Emperor once again; this time he was stoned.
The miraculous deliverance of the saint, transfixed by arrows, was regarded even in early times as a parallel to the resurrection of Christ.
The figure of the martyr as portrayed by Rubens is also intended to recall the Crucifixion. Bound to a tree, his eyes turned upwards to heaven,
he seems only slightly affected by the bleeding wounds.
He is buried in a catacomb near Via Appia. After Peter and Paul, Sebastian is the third patron of Rome. He is also the patron saint of gunsmiths
and is invoked against plague and epilepsy. He is often depicted with an arrow, or arrows, in his body.
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