Saint Sebastian

Tanzio da Varallo

National Gallery of Art

Bright light from the upper left washes over a young man pierced with arrows, an angel, and a young woman, who together fill this vertical painting. The three cluster closely against a black background, and all of them have pale, peachy skin. The muscular young man at the center, Saint Sebastian, faces us and appears to be seated with his right leg bent, to our left. The heel of that foot is braced on a round, golden brown object that might be the back of a shield. Saint Sebastian’s shin is pierced by two arrows. His head is thrown back as his glistening brown eyes roll back to gaze up and his mouth hangs open. He touches his chest near one wound, near his left shoulder, to our right. His other wrist rests against his bent knee, and the palm of that hand faces our left, fingers splayed back. He is nude except for silver-gray and goldenrod-yellow cloths draped across his lap and left leg. To our left, the angel, wearing a long, sapphire-blue toga, leans toward Saint Sebastian with shoulders squared to us. The angel’s head tips toward Saint Sebastian’s shoulder as he delicately draws an arrow from the saint’s chest and holds up a bloody cloth to staunch the wound. A sliver of a golden-brown wing shimmers against the ink-black background, near the left edge of the painting. Several blood-covered arrows sit near the angel’s feet, in the lower left corner of the painting. To our right, the woman stands close behind Saint Sebastian, wearing a plum-purple robe with emerald-green lining over a long, scarlet-red garment. She cradles Saint Sebastian’s body against hers, bracing him with her hands as she wraps the gray cloth around his back.