Why is Saint Sebastian So Smoking Hot?

One of my favorite saints is Saint Sebastian. And it’s Pride month! If you don’t already know him, you likely will see him at your next gallery visit.

Who Was Saint Sebastian?

Last week, I spent a few days in Prague. We loved the National Gallery, specifically the Trade Fair Palace’s 19th-21st centuries collection. (Also, that building is a wonderful functionalism masterpiece.) I noticed a homoerotic theme in the gallery (a breath of fresh air). Which got me thinking about Saint Sebastian pieces. (Their piece was unlike most of the historical super sexy Saint Sebastians – but still interesting.)

St. Sebastian, Bohumil Kubista, 1912 — *St. Sebastian*, Bohumil Kubista, 1912

But let me step back.

Artists highlighted religious themes throughout much of Western art history. Some of the common figures can feel repetitive to a modern eye, but like anything you spend time with, interesting themes emerge. A skinned man, a nun with visions, La Pietà, the five wounds, etc.

One that stood out to me was a man filled with arrows in agony…but it looked like he was in ecstasy. Writhing against a tree penetrated with arrows.

Why Is he Always So…Hot?

Saint Sebastian, in every depiction, was always young, scantily clad, handsome in whatever was the classic standard of the time. A celebration of male beauty. Saint Sebastian = absolute tall glass of water. Total babe. He puts the dom in martyrdom.

But he didn’t actually die from his arrow wounds. He was clubbed to death shortly after healing. Maybe the attempted martyrdom is more popular because it’s a pretty sick miracle. Or, more likely in my opinion, it’s an excuse to paint a fetching young man.

And there’s something to be said about arrows being linked to desire. Like cupid’s arrow. Or to be more, ahem, on point, they’re shafts.

So much has been written about this theme and the sexuality around St. Sebastian and the queer communities’ embrace of him – I put a few articles at the bottom. Hell, he was, at the time of writing, the main image on Wikipedia’s gay icon page.