Saint Bartholomew

Holding a swath of cloth around his lower body that reveals the aged skin of his chest, the elderly Saint Bartholomew intently gazes off into the distance as if having a vision. He clutches a book tightly, while his attribute of flayed skin rests behind him on a stump. The skin refers to his martyrdom: Saint Bartholomew was flayed alive and beheaded on an evangelical mission to the East. Thus, tanners and artisans who worked with animal skins venerated Saint Bartholomew, making him their patron saint. This terracotta may have been created as a model for a larger-scale statue in stone or in wood, possibly for a series of apostles, such as those that often decorate the nave or the choir stalls in Belgian churches.