BARTHOLOMEW FLAYED ALIVE
One of Ribera's favorite subjects was St. Bartholomew, an apostle and missionary who was skinned alive for his Christian faith. The artist depicted Bartholomew's martyrdom in an earlier print, whose composition may have served as a model for this drawing. The distinctive arrangement of figures—from the knife sharpener at far right, to his counterpart binding Bartholomew's legs, to the standing executioner flaying his forearm—lends the drawing an instructional dimension, demonstrating, step by step, how to martyr a saint. The inscription below is not in Ribera's hand but may have been added by a later owner of the sheet.
Drawing by José de Ribera (1588?-1652), Martyrdom of St. Bartholomew, Pen and brown ink, and brush and brown wash, over traces of black chalk, on paper, I, 106