(About art, and about some Z-folk (yay us!), but the Z-folk are knee-deep in homoerotic art (yay for Team Sodomite!), and male bodies and man-on-man sex will be discussed in plain language, so this posting is off-limits for kids and the sexually modest)
A Mexican in Paris — Ángel Zárraga, a painter who has brought us yet another remarkable painting of St. Sebastian (I know, I know, when will this rain of Sebastians end?, you cry out; well, not quite yet), the sensuous Votive Offering, more commonly known as (The Martyrdom of) Saint Sebastian:
(#1) I’ll have a fair amount to say about the elements of this painting, but there are endless further questions about them: why the contrapposto stance, why this posing of the saint’s arms, why stars in the saint’s halo? why only one arrow, just barely embedded in the saint’s left nipple, and with handsome black and white checks on its fletching? and on and on; you’ll probably have more questions yourself
So we see what looks like a a fashionable Parisian woman in Art Nouveau dress, on her knees in devotion before a handsome Italian man with wavy black Romantic hair. He’s Saint Sebastian, dying for his Christian beliefs, from wicked sharp arrows penetrating into his flesh; she’s Saint Irene of Rome, tending to him and healing his wounds. But there’s no agony, no tears, only the striking of poses. There’s no exertion, no fear, not one drop of sweat. Remarkably, there’s not a drop of blood, either, only these two powerfully beautiful people, radiating sensuous elegance.
The inscription in the lower right corner is a genuinely pious and humble dedication by the artist of his work to the Lord; meanwhile, in the work, the body of the saint is framed as itself a votive offering, a gift to God. But let’s face it, this Sebastian is one hot number (and so is this very worldly Irene, in her own way), presenting himself as strikingly unmartyrial, more like something cooked up by Pierre et Gilles. I find it easier to imagine Zárraga’s Sebastian stud-hustling on a city street — well, I have actually seen his brothers in action, though with more clothes on and no arrow — than to see him as a blood sacrifice in the service of Jesus Christ.
