Before And After The Black Death Of San Sebastian Theme Image Research

Among Christian art, images of saints have been abundant and various. As an early Christian martyr, image of St Sebastian appeared as early as the fifth century, in the catacombs of Rome. Before the outbreak of the Black Death in the fourteenth century. St Sebastian was represented as a Roman soldier and martyr in images. The Black Death not only caused severe damage to Europe in social and economic aspects, but also deeply influenced the Christian religion and the survivors’ psychology, which are obviously reflected in religious art. After the Plague. St Sebastian was widely known and worshipped as a "plague saint". And the images of St Sebastian have taken part in fabricating his three roles as a plague saint:pictures which depicted St Sebastian in accompany with Christ, the Virgin and other patron saints reflected him as the intercessor between man and God, as well as his power of interceding before God for people’s suffering from plague. Scenes of the saint’s martyrdom presented him as a sacrifice to God in order to pacify His wrath and scatter the plague. And the non-narrative devotional image of St Sebastian established a model of ideal death for his fellow Christians. The development of St Sebastian image during the time between the Black Death and the Reformation and Counter Reformation has also revealed the rise and fall of the cult of St Sebastian as a plague saint.