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Saint Bartholomew

Saint Bartholomew
(1589)
no. 6 from the Christ, the Apostles and St Paul series 1589

Medium
engraving

Measurements
12.5 × 10.3 cm (image and sheet, trimmed within platemark)

Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Felton Bequest, 1923

Gallery location
Not on display

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About this work

The Twelve Apostles were Jesus’s closest disciples and played a significant role in establishing Christian communities across the ancient world. Saint Bartholomew served as a missionary in Ethiopia, Mesopotamia, Parthia (modern-day Iran), Lycaonia (modern Turkey) and Armenia. He is believed to have been flayed and beheaded under the orders of the Armenian king Astyages. In his series Christ, the Apostles and St Paul, Dutch engraver Hendrick Goltzius depicts the saint holding a flaying knife, symbolising his martyrdom and unwavering faith.

Artwork Details

Catalogue/s Raisonné
New Hollstein 40; Bartsch III.49, p. 53; Strauss 272; Hollstein VIII.40; Hirschmann 40

Inscription
printed in ink (in image) l.l.: HG (monogram)
printed in ink l.c.: (...illeg.) (incomplete; sheet trimmed)

Accession Number
1278.217-3

Departments
International Prints / International Prints and Drawings

This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of the Joe White Bequest