Image: Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, Barcelona
The Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya has highlighted Josep de Ribera’s ‘Martyrdom of Saint Bartholomew’, dated 1644, in a post marking Saint Bartholomew’s Day on August 24. The work is associated with Ribera’s nickname, ‘Lo Spagnoletto’.
The museum’s notice draws attention to the painting’s depiction of the apostle’s martyrdom and physical torment. Saint Bartholomew is shown looking out at the viewer in a state of helplessness, while an executioner skins him.
According to the museum’s description, the executioner is presented as drunk and carries out the act with sadistic enthusiasm. The contrast between the apostle’s vulnerable expression and the brutality of the execution gives the scene its central dramatic tension.
Ribera, a Spanish-born painter active in Italy, was known as ‘Lo Spagnoletto’, meaning ‘the little Spaniard’. The museum’s post identifies the work as part of the material it is revisiting in connection with the saint’s feast day, but provides no further information about the work’s display status, acquisition history or current exhibition.
The available announcement is a focused collection highlight rather than a notice of a new exhibition or event. It identifies the work, its date and subject, and directs attention to Ribera’s graphic treatment of the apostle’s martyrdom at the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya in Barcelona.
