The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian

In Memling's Bruges, shooting with the bow was a matter of civic duty and civic pride. The city's longbowmen belonged to a guild named after Saint Sebastian, and that guild still meets there today, more than 600 years on. Sebastian was the Roman soldier who, legend says, was tied up and shot with arrows for his Christian faith, and by the 15th century people also prayed to him for protection against plague. On this narrow left wing of the Resurrection triptych he stands bound to a tree, already pierced, looking calm. Behind him two archers in the hose, boots and caps of Memling's own day are readying their longbows. At his feet lie the clothes he has been stripped of.