SAINT SEBASTIEN IN FRENCH—ST SEBASTIAN IN ENGLISH
I chose the French title because, as some of you may remember, I live in France.
Saint Sebastien’s martyrdom has been a popular subject in art and literature since the middle ages. Before that, in Greek and Roman times, he was usually painted as Eros or Cupid. The subject was especially popular in the Renaissance when the rise of humanism, and a ‘rediscovery’ of classicism, saw the human body become increasingly central in paintings and sculpture.
So, why did I paint him?
Well, I’ve always painted the nude (many, many years ago I came close to getting into lots of trouble for a nude female I exhibited in Pretoria—it was based on Courbet’s L'Origine du monde.)
Anyway, I’ve gone back to the nude, and intend to paint several contemporary interpretations of traditional subjects over the next few months.
The above pic shows a work in progress. If you’d like to see the finished painting, and, as long as you are not offended by nudity, you can see it here:
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