London, to May 11: The Dulwich Picture Gallery is displaying six versions of Guido Reni's "St. Sebastian." He painted seven but the painting now hanging in Le Louvre was deemed too fragile to travel. This version belongs to the Gallery. (photo by permission of the Trustees of Dulwich Picture Gallery, London)

This version, painted around 1625, is now kept in the Auckland Art Gallery, in New Zealand. St. Sebastian lived around the 3rd century, and was condemned to death for supporting and helping the Christians. (photo Mackelvie Trust Collection, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki)

This is the first version of the Christian martyr, painted by Guido Reni around 1615-16. ".. a lovely brown boy, with crips, clustering hair and red lips, bound by his evil enemies to a tree and, through pierced by arrowxs, raising his eyes with divine impassioned gaze toward the Eternal Beauty of the opening Heavens," said Oscar Wilde when he saw it at the Palazzo Rosso, in Genoa, where it still belongs. (photo Musei di Strado Nuova, Palazzo Rosso, Genoa)

Notice the difference with the previous version: the head is turned in the opposite direction, the saint is placed off-center, leaving more room for the dramatic background. This version, kept in the Prado, was probably painted a couple of years after the Genoa version. (photo Museo Nacional del Prado)

In his "Confessions of a Mask," Mishima reveals his fascination at the age of 12 for a reproduction of one of the versions of Reni's St. Sebastians. This version can be found in the Museo de Arte de Ponce, in Puerto Rico. (photo Museo of Arte de Ponce, Puerto Rico)

This version, that is on view at the Pinacoteca Capitolina in Rome, was probably painted in 1615. (photo Archivo Fotographico Pinacoteca Capitolina, Rome)

"A lovely brown boy, with crisp, clustering hair and red lips, bound by his evil enemies to a tree and, though pierced by arrows, raising his eyes with divine, impassioned gaze toward the Eternal Beauty of the opening Heavens," Oscar Wilde said of Reni's St. Sebastian at the Palazzo Rosso in Genoa, Italy. The Bolognese artist (1575-1642) painted seven versions of St. Sebastian, a popular figure in religious iconography ; six of them, including the Genoese one, are in the show (the fragile Louvre version could not travel). An opportunity to compare the various renditions coming from as far as New Zealand and South America. -- www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk